3a 


LIB  R  A  RY 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

OK 


Received/  OCT  27  1892       ,  / 
Accessions  No.   /f^<^X8     Shelf  No.  .  J 


*$ 


THE 


WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR; 


A  TALE. 


PY   T^^MPOR    OF 


"THE  SPY,"  "THE  RED  ROVER/'  &o.,  &o. 


»«Tfi  this  the  wav 
I  must  return  to  native  diet  I  ' 


NEW    YORK: 
STRINGER    &    TOWNSEND, 

222     B  R  O  ADW  AT, 

1856. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850,  by 

J.  FENIMORE    COOPER, 

the  Clerk  s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Fasten*  D  -an  let  of  New  Ysrk. 


STEREOTYPED   BY   J.   TAGAN.   PHILADELPHIA. 


PREFACE. 


THE  object  of  this  book  is  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  some 
of  the  social  evils  that  beset  us ;  more  particularly  in  connection  with 
the  administration  of  criminal  justice.  So  long  a  time  has  intervened 
since  the  thought  occurred,  and  so  many  interruptions  have  delayed 
the  progress  of  the  work,  that  it  is  felt  the  subject  has  been  very  im 
perfectly  treated ;  but  it  is  hoped  that  enough  has  been  done  to  cause 
a  few  to  reflect  on  a  matter  of  vital  importance ;  one  that  to  them  may 
possess  the  interest  of  novelty. 

A  strange  indifference  exists  as  to  the  composition  of  the  juries. 
In  our  view,  the  institution  itself,  so  admirable  in  a  monarchy,  is  to 
tally  unsuited  to  a  democracy.  The  very  principle  that  renders  it  so 
safe  where  there  is  a  great  central  power  to  resist,  renders  it  unsafe 
in  a  state  of  society  in  which  few  have  sufficient  resolution  to  attempt 
even  to  resist  popular  impulses. 

A  hundred  instances  might  be  given  in  which  the  juries  of  this 
country  are  an  evil ;  one  or  two  of  which  we  will  point  out.  In  trials 
between  railroad  companies  and  those  who  dwell  along  their  lines, 
prejudice  is  usually  so  strong  against  the  former,  that  justice  for  them 
is  nearly  hopeless.  In  certain  parts  of  the  country,  the  juries  are 
made  the  instrument  of  defeating  the  claims  of  creditors  who  dwell 
at  a  distance,  and  are  believed  to  have  interests  opposed  to  the  parti 
cular  community  where  the  debtor  resides.  This  is  a  most  crying 
evil,  and  has  been  the  source  of  many  and  grievous  wrongs.  When- 


W  PREFACE. 

ever  there  is  a  motive  for  creating  a  simulated  public  opinion,  by  the 
united  action  of  several  journals,  justice  is  next  to  hopeless ;  such 
combinations  rarely,  if  ever,  occurring  in  its  behalf.  In  cases  that 
are  connected  with  the  workings  of  political  schemes,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  in  those  in  which  political  men  are  parties  to  the  suits,  it  iat 
often  found  that  the  general  prejudices  or  partialities  of  the  out-dooi 
factions  enter  the  jury-box.  This  is  a  most  serious  evil  too ;  for,  even 
when  the  feeling  does  not  produce  a  direct  and  flagrant  wrong,  it  is 
very  apt  so  far  to  temper  the  right  as  to  deprive  it  of  much  of  its 
virtue.  In  a  country  like  this,  in  which  party  penetrates  to  the  very 
bottom  of  society,  the  extent  of  this  evil  can  be  known  only  to  those 
who  are  brought  into  close  contact  with  the  ordinary  workings  of  the 
institution. 

In  a  democracy,  proper  selections  in  the  material  that  are  neces 
sary  to  render  juries  safe,  become  nearly  impossible.  Then,  the  ten 
dency  is  to  the  accumulation  of  power  in  bodies  of  men ;  and  in  a 
state  of  society  like  our  own,  the  juries  get  to  be  much  too  independent 
of  the  opinion  of  the  court.  It  is  precisely  in  that  condition  of  things 
in  which  the  influence  and  authority  of  the  judge  guide  the  juror,  and 
the  investigation  and  substantial  power  of  the  juror  react  on  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  court,  that  the  greatest  benefits  have  been  found  to  accrue 
from  this  institution.  The  reverse  of  this  state  of  things  will  be  very 
likely  to  produce  the  greatest  amount  of  evil. 

It  is  certain  that  the  juries  are  falling  into  disrepute  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  The  difiiculty  is  to  find  a  substitute. 
As  they  are  bodies  holding  the  lives,  property  and  character  of  every 
member  of  the  community,  more  or  less,  in  their  power,  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  the  masses  will  surrender  this  important  means  of 
exercising  their  authority  voluntarily,  or  with  good  will.  Time  alone 
can  bring  reform  through  the  extent  of  the  abuses. 

The  writer  has  not  the  vanity  to  suppose  that  anything  contained 
in  this  book  will  produce  a  very  serious  impression  on  the  popularity  of 
the  jury.  Such  is  not  its  design.  All  that  is  anticipated  is  to  cause 
a  portion  of  his  readers  to  reflect  on  the  subject ;  persons  who  probably 
nave  never  yet  given  it  a  moment  of  thought. 


PREFACE.  vii 

There  is  a  tendency,  at  the  present  time,  to  court  change  for  its 
own  sake.  This  is  erroneously  termed  a  love  of  reform.  Something 
very  like  a  revolution  is  going  on  in  our  midst,  while  there  is  much 
reason  to  apprehend  that  few  real  grievances  are  abated ;  the  spurious 
too  exclusively  occupying  the  popular  mind,  to  render  easy  a  just 
distinction  between  them.  When  an  American  prates  about  aristo 
cracy,  it  is  pretty  safe  to  set  him  down  as  knavish  or  ignorant.  It  is 
purely  cant ;  and  the  declaimers  would  be  puzzled  to  point  to  a  single 
clement  of  the  little  understood  and  much-decried  institution,  the 
country  being  absolutely  without  any,  unless  the  enjoyment  of  the 
ordinary  rights  of  property  can  be  so  considered.  But  the  demagogue 
must  have  his  war-cry,  as  well  as  the  Indian;  and  it  is  probable  he 
will  continue  to  whoop  as  long  as  the  country  contains  minds  weak 
enough  to  furnish  him  with  dupes. 

Cooperetown.  March  12, 1850. 


^5s?*  f^J  Jr  v 

THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Mar.  My  lord  Aumerle,  is  Harry  Hereford  armed  ? 
Aum.  Yea,  at  all  points ;  and  longs  to  enter  in. 

King  Richard  II. 

IN  one  respect,  there  is  a  visible  improvement  in  the  goodly 
town  of  Manhattan,  and  that  is  in  its  architecture.  Of  its 
growth,  there  has  never  been  any  question,  while  many  have 
disputed  its  pretension  to  improvement.  A  vast  expansion  of 
mediocrity,  though  useful  and  imposing,  rarely  satisfies  either 
the  judgment  or  the  taste;  those  who  possess  these  qualities, 
requiring  a  nearer  approach  to  what  is  excellent,  than  can  ever 
be  found  beneath  the  term  just  mentioned. 

A  town  which  is  built  of  red  bricks,  that  are  faced  with  white 
marble,  the  whole  garnished  with  green  blinds,  can  never  have 
but  one  outward  sign  —  that  of  tawdry  vulgarity.  But  this 
radical  defect  is  slowly  disappearing  from  the  streets  of  Man 
hattan  ;  and  those  who  build,  are  getting  to  understand  that 
architecture,  like  statuary,  will  not  admit  of  strong  contrasts  in 
colours.  Horace  Walpole  tells  us  of  a  certain  old  Lord  Pem 
broke,  who  blackened  the  eyes  of  the  gods  and  goddesses  in  the 
celebrated  gallery  at  Wilton,  and  prided  himself  on  the  achieve 
ment,  as  if  he  had  been  another  Phidias.  There  have  been 
thousands  of  those  who  have  laboured  in  the  spirit  of  this  Earl 

1*  (9) 


10  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

of  Pembroke  in  the  streets  of  all  the  American  towns ;  but  tra 
velling,  hints,  books  and  example,  are  slowly  effecting  a  change ; 
and  whole  squares  may  now  be  seen  in  which  the  eye  rests  with 
satisfaction  on  blinds,  facings  and  bricks,  all  brought  to  the  same 
pleasing,  sober,  architectural  tint.  We  regard  this  as  the  first 
step,  in  advance,  that  has  been  made  in  the  right  direction,  so 
far  as  the  outward  aspect  of  the  town  is  concerned,  and  look  for 
ward,  with  hope,  to  the  day  when  Manhattan  shall  have  banished 
its  rag-fair  finery  altogether,  and  the  place  will  become  as  remark 
able  for  the  chaste  simplicity  of  its  streets,  as  they  have  hitherto 
been  for  their  marked  want  of  taste. 

With  this  great  town,  mottled  as  it  is,  in  people  as  well  as  in 
hues,  with  its  native  population  collected  from  all  parts  of  this 
vast  republic,  and  its  European  representatives  amounting  to 
scores  of  thousands,  we  shall  have  much  to  do  in  the  succeeding 
pages.  Our  researches,  however,  will  be  bestowed  more  on 
things  moral  than  on  things  physical ;  and  we  shall  endeavour 
to  carry  the  reader  with  us  through  scenes  that,  we  regret  to  say, 
are  far  more  characteristic  than  novel. 

In  one  of  the  cross  streets  that  communicate  with  Broadway, 
and  below  Canal,  stands  a  dwelling  that  is  obnoxious  to  all  the 
charges  of  bad  taste  to  which  there  has  already  been  allusion,  aa 
well  as  to  certain  others  that  have  not  yet  been  named,  at  all. 
A  quarter  of  a  century  since,  or  within  the  first  twenty  years  of 
its  own  existence,  the  house  in  question  would  have  been  regarded 
as  decidedly  patrician,  though  it  is  now  lost  amid  the  thousands 
of  similar  abodes  that  have  arisen  since  its  own  construction. 
There  it  stands,  with  its  red  bricks  periodically  painted  redder ; 
its  marble  facings,  making  a  livery  of  red  turned  up  with  white ; 
its  green  blinds,  its  high  stoop,  its  half-buried  and  low  basement, 
and  all  its  neatness  and  comfort,  notwithstanding  its  flagrant 
architectural  sins.  Into  this  building  we  now  propose  to  enter, 
at  the  very  early  hour  of  eight  in  the  morning. 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  11 

The  principal  floor  was  divided,  as  usual,  between  a  dining  and 
*  drawing-room,  with  large  communicating  doors.  This  was  the 
stereotyped  construction  of  all  Manhattanese  dwellings  of  any 
pretension,  a  quarter  of  a  century  since;  and  that  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Dunscomb,  the  owner  and  occupant  of  the  house  in  question, 
had  been  built  in  rigid  conformity  with  the  fashion  of  its  day. 
'Squire  Dunscomb,  as  this  gentleman  was  termed  in  all  the 
adjacent  country  counties,  where  he  was  well  known  as  a  reliable 
and  sound  legal  adviser;  Mr.  Thomas  Dunscomb,  as  he  was 
styled  by  various  single  ladies,  who  wondered  he  never  married; 
or  Tom  Dunscomb,  as  he  was  familiarly  called  by  a  herd  of  un 
yoked  youths,  all  of  whom  were  turned  of  sixty,  was  a  capital 
fellow  in  each  of  his  many  characters.  As  a  lawyer,  he  was  as 
near  the  top  of  the  bar  as  a  man  can  be,  who  never  had  any  pre 
hensions  to  be  an  orator,  and  whose  longest  effort  seldom  exceeded 
half  an  hour.  Should  the  plan  of  placing  eloquence  in  hobbles 
reach  our  own  bar,  his  habit  of  -condensing,  his  trick  of  getting 
multum  in  parvo,  may  yet  bring  him  to  the  very  summit;  for 
Jie  will  have  an  immense  advantage  over  those  who,  resembling 
a  country  buck  at  a  town  ball,  need  the  whole  field  to  cut  their 
flourishes  in.  As  a  man  of  the  world,  he  was  well-bred,  though 
a  little  cynical,  very  agreeable,  most  especially  with  the  ladies, 
and  quite  familiar  with  all  the  better  habits  of  the  best-toned 
circles  of  the  place.  As  a  boon  companion,  Tom  Dunscomb 
was  an  immense  favourite,  being  particularly  warm-hearted,  and 
always  ready  for  any  extra  eating  or  drinking.  In  addition  to 
these  leading  qualities,  Dunscomb  was  known  to  be  rich,  having 
inherited  a  very  tolerable  estate,  as  well  as  having  added  much 
to  hb  means,  by  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  If  to  these  cir- 
cunist&nces  we  add  that  of  a  very  prepossessing  personal  appear- 
ancc;  in  which  age  was  very  green,  the  reader  has  all  that  is 
necessary  for  an  introduction  to  one  of  our  principal  characters. 

Though  a  bachelor,  Mr.  Dunscomb  did  not  live  alone.     He 


12  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

had  a  nephew  and  a  niece  in  his  family,  the  orphan  children  of  s 
sister  who  had  now  been  dead  many  years.  They  bore  the  name 
of  Wilmeter,  which,  in  the  family  parlance,  was  almost  always 
pronounced  Wilmington.  It  was  Jack  Wilmington,  and  Sallj 
Wilmington,  at  school,  at  home,  and  with  all  their  intimates; 
though  Mr.  John  Wilmeter  and  Miss  Sarah  Wilmeter  were  often 
spoken  of  in  their  little  out-door  world;  it  being  rather  an  afiec- 
tation  of  the  times  to  prove,  in  this  manner,  that  one  retains- 
some  knowledge  of  the  spelling-book.  We  shall  write  the  name 
as  it  is  written  by  the  parties  themselves,  forewarning  the  reader 
that  if  he  desire  to  pronounce  it  by  the  same  family  standard,, 
he  must  take  the  unauthorized  spelling  as  a  guide.  We  own 
ourselves  to  a  strong  predilection  for  old  familiar  sounds,  as  well 
as  old  familiar  faces. 

At  half-past  8,  A.  M.,  of  a  fine  morning,  late  in  May,  whe» 
the  roses  were  beginning  to  show  their  tints  amid  the  verdure  of 
the  leaves,  in  Mr.  DunseomVs  yard,  the  three  individuals  just 
mentioned  were  at  the  breakfast-table  of  what  it  is  the  fashion* 
of  New  York  to  term  a  dining-room.  The  windows  were  open, 
and  a  soft  and  fragrant  air  filled  the  apartment.  We  have  said 
that  Mr.  Dunscomb  was  affluent,  and  he  chose  to  enjoy  his 
means,  not  a  la  Manhattan,  in  idle  competition  with  the  nouveaux 
riches,  but  in  a  more  quiet  and  rational  way.  His  father  had 
occupied  lots,  "running  through/'  as  it  is  termed;  building  his 
house  on  one  street  and  his  stables  on  the  other;  leaving  himself 
a  space  in  the  rear  of  the  former,  that  was  prodigious  for  a  town 
so  squeezed  into  parallelograms  of  twenty-five  feet  by  a  hundred. 
This  open  space  was  of  the  usual  breadth,  but  it  actually  mea 
sured  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  an  area  that  would  have 
almost  justified  its  being  termed  a  "park,"  in  the  nomenclature 
of  the  town.  This  yard  Sarah  had  caused  to  be  well  gam  L-  bed 
with  shrubbery,  and,  for  its  dimensions,  it  was  really  a  sort  of 
oasis,  in  that  wilderness  of  bricks. 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  13 

The  family  was  not  alone  that  morning.  A  certain  Michael 
Millington  was  a  guest  of  Jack's,  and  seemingly  quite  at  home 
in  the  little  circle.  The  business  of  eating  and  drinking  was 
pretty  well  through  with,  though  each  of  the  four  cups  had  its 
remains  of  tea  or  coffee,  and  Sarah  sat  stirring  hers  idly,  while 
her  soft  eyes  were  turned  with  interest  on  the  countenances  of  the 
two  young  men.  The  last  had  a  sheet  of  writing-paper  lying 
between  them,  and  their  heads  were  close  together,  as  both 
studied  that  which  was  written  on  it  in  pencil.  As  for  Mr.  Duns- 
comb,  himself,  he  was  fairly  surrounded  by  documents  of  one 
sort  and  another.  Two  or  three  of  the  morning  papers,  glanced 
at  but  not  read,  lay  opened  on  the  floor ;  on  each  side  of  his  plate 
was  a  brief,  or  some  lease  or  release ;  while  a  copy  of  the  new 
and  much  talked  of  code  was  in  his  hand.  As  we  say  in  our 
American  English,  Mr.  Dunscomb  was  "emphatically"  a  com 
mon-law  lawyer ;  and,  as  our  transatlantic  brethren  would  remark 
in  their  sometime  cockney  dialect,  he  was  not  at  all  "agreeable" 
to  this  great  innovation  on  'the  perfection  of  human  reason.' 
He  muttered  occasionally  as  he  read,  and  now  and  then  he  laid 
down  the  book,  and  seemed  to  muse.  All  this,  however,  was 
quite  lost  on  Sarah,  whose  soft  blue  eyes  still  rested  on  the  in 
terested  countenances  of  the  two  young  men.  At  length  Jack 
seized  the  paper,  and  wrote  a  line  or  two  hurriedly,  with  his 
pencil. 

"There,  Mike,"  he  said,  in  a  tone  of  self-gratulation,  "I 
think  that  will  do!" 

"It  has  one  merit  of  a  good  toast,"  answered  the  friend,  a 
little  doubtingly;  "it  is  sententious." 

"  As  all  toasts  ought  to  be.  If  we  are  to  have  this  dinner, 
and  the  speeches,  and  all  the  usual  publications  afterwards,  I 
choose  that  we  should  appear  with  some  little  credit.  Pray,  sir," 
raising  his  eyes  to  his  uncle,  and  his  voice  to  correspond,  "  what 
do  you  think  of  it,  now  ?" 
2 


14  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  Just  as  I  always  have.  Jack.  It  will  never  do  at  all.  Jus« 
tice  would  halt  miserably  under  such  a  system  of  practice.  Some 
of  the  forms  of  pleadings  arc  infernal,  if  pleadings  they  can  be 
called  at  all.  I  detest  even  the  names  they  give  their  proceed 
ings —  complaints  and  answers  !" 

"They  are  certainly  not  as  formidable  to  the  ear,"  returned 
Jack,  a  little  saucily,  "as  rebutters  and  sur-rebutters.  But  I 
was  not  thinking  of  the  code,  sir ;  I  was  asking  your  opinion  of 
my  new  toast." 

41  Even  a  fee  could  not  extract  an  opinion,  unless  I  heard  it 
read." 

"  Well,  sir,  here  it  is :  <  The  constitution  of  the  United  States ; 
the  palladium  of  our  civil  and  religious  liberties/  Now,  I  do 
not  think  I  can  much  better  that,  uncle  Tom  !" 

"I'm  very  sorry  to  hear  you  say  so,  Jack." 

"  Why  so,  sir  ?  I  'm  sure  it  is  good  American  sentiment  j 
and  what  is  more,  it  has  a  flavour  of  the  old  English  principles 
that  you  so  much  admire,  about  it,  too.  Why  do  you  dislike  it, 
sir?" 

"For  several  reasons  —  it  would  be  common-place,  which  a 
toast  should  never  be,  were  it  true ;  but  there  happens  not  to  be 
a  word  of  truth  in  your  sentiment,  sonorous  as  it  may  sound  in 
your  ears." 

"  Not  true  !  Does  not  the  constitution  guaranty  to  the  citizen 
religious  liberty?" 

"Not  a  bit  of  it." 

"  You  amaze  me,  sir !  Why,  here,  just  listen  to  its  language, 
if  you  please." 

Hereupon  Jack  opened  a  book,  and  read  the  clause  on  which 
he  relied  to  confute  one  of  the  ablest  constitutional  lawyers  and 
clearest  heads  in  America.  Not  that  Mr.  Dunscomb  was  what 
is  called  an  "expounder,"  great  or  small;  but  he  never  made  a 
mistake  on  the  subject  in  hand,  and  had  often  caused  the  best  of 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  15 

tbe  <e  expounders"  to  retrace  their  steps.  He  was  an  original 
thinker,  but  of  the  safest  and  most  useful  sort ;  one  who  distin 
guished  between  the  institutions  of  England  and  America,  while 
he  submitted  to  the  fair  application  of  minor  principles  that  are 
so  common  to  both.  As  for  his  nephew,  he  knew  no  more  of  the 
great  instrument  he  held  in  his  hand,  than  he  had  gleaned  from 
ill-digested  newspaper  remarks,  vapid  speeches  in  Congress,  and 
the  erroneous  notions  that  float  about  the  country,  coming  from 
" nobody  knows  whom/'  and  leading  literally  to  nothing.  The 
ignorance  that  prevails  on  such  subjects  is  really  astounding,  when 
one  remembers  the  great  number  of  battles  that  are  annually 
fought  over  this  much-neglected  compact. 

"Ay,  here  is  the  clause — just  please  to  hear  it,  sir/'  continued 
Jack. — " '  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establish 
ment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or 
abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right 
of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  govern* 
rnent  for  a  redress  of  grievances.'  There,  I  think  that  will  go 
far  towards  justifying  the  whole  toast,  Mike." 

This  was  said  a  little  triumphantly,  and  not  a  little  confidently. 
The  only  answer  Mr.  Dunscomb  condescended  to  make,  was  an 
expressive  "  Umph !"  As  for  Michael  Millington,  he  was  a  little 
timid  about  expressing  an  opinion,  and  that  for  two  reasons ;  he 
had  often  experienced  Mr.  Dunscomb's  superior  wisdom,  and  he 
knew  that  Sarah  heard  all  that  passed. 

"  I  wish  your  uncle  would  lay  aside  that  code  for  a  minute, 
Jack,  and  let  us  know  what  he  thinks  of  our  authorities/'  said 
Michael,  in  an  under  tone. 

"Come,  Uncle  Tom,"  cried  the  more  hardy  nephew — "come 
out  of  your  reserve,  and  face  the  constitution  of  your  country. 
Even  Sarah  can  see  that,  for  once,  we  are  right,  and  that  my 
toast  is  of  proof." 

"  It  is  a  very  good  proof-sheet,  Jack,  not  only  of  your  own 


16  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

mind,  but  of  half  the  minds  in  the  country.  Ranker  nonsense 
cannot  be  uttered,  however,  than  to  say  that  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  is  the  palladium  of  anything  in  which  civil  or 
religious  liberty  is  concerned/' 

"  You  do  not  dispute  the  fidelity  of  my  quotation,  sir?" 

"  By  no  means.  The  clause  you  read  is  a  very  useless  exhibi 
tion  of  certain  facts  that  existed  just  as  distinctly  before  it  was 
framed,  as  they  do  to-day.  Congress  had  no  power  to  make  an 
established  religion,  or  abridge  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  that  of 
the  press,  or  the  right  of  the  people  to  petition,  before  that 
amendment  was  introduced,  and  consequently  the  clause  itself  is 
supererogatory.  You  take  nothing  by  your  motion,  Jack." 

"  I  do  not  understand  you,  sir.  To  me,  it  seems  that  I  have 
the  best  of  it." 

"Congress  has  no  power  but  what  has  been  conceded  to  it 
directly,  or  by  necessary  connection.  Now,  there  happens  to  be 
nothing  said  about  granting  any  such  authority  to  Congress,  and 
consequently  the  prohibition  is  not  necessary.  But,  admitting 
that  Congress  did  really  possess  the  power  to  establish  a  religion 
previously  to  the  adoption  of  this  amendment,  the  constitution 
would  not  prove  a  palladium  to  religious  liberty,  unless  it  pro 
hibited  everybody  else  from  meddling  with  the  opinions  of  the 
citizen.  Any  state  of  this  Union  that  pleases,  may  establish  a 
religion,  and  compel  its  citizens  to  support  it." 

"  Why,  sir,  our  own  state  constitution  has  a  provision  similar 
to  this,  to  prevent  it." 

"  Very  true ;  but  our  own  state  constitution  can  be  altered  in 
Jiis  behalf,  without  asking  permission  of  any  one  but  our  own 
people.  I  think  that  even  Sarah  will  understand  that  the 
United  States  is  no  palladium  of  religious  liberty,  if  it  cannot 
prevent  a  state  from  establishing  Mohamedanism,  as  soon  as  a 
few  forms  can  be  complied  with." 

Sarah  coloured,  glanced  timidly  at  Michael  Millington,  buj 


THE   WA.YS    OF   THE    HOUR.  17 

made  no  reply.  She  did  not  understand  much  of  what  she  had 
just  heard,  though  rather  an  intelligent  girl,  but  had  hoped  that 
Jack  and  his  friend  were  nearer  right  than  was  likely  to  turn  out 
to  be  the  case.  Jack,  himself,  being  a  young  limb  of  the  law, 
comprehended  what  his  uncle  meant,  and  had  the  grace  to  colour, 
too,  at  the  manner  in  which  he  had  manifested  his  ignorance  of 
the  great  national  compact.  With  a  view  to  relieve  himself  from 
his  dilemma,  he  cried,  with  a  ready  dexterity, — 

"  Well,  since  this  won't  do,  I  must  try  the  jury.  <  The  trial 
by  jury,  the  palladium  of  our  liberties.'  How  do  you  like  that, 
«ir?" 

"  Worse  than  the  other,  boy.  God  protect  the  country  that 
has  no  better  shield  against  wrong,  than  that  which  a  jury  can 
hold  before  it." 

Jack  looked  at  Michael,  and  Michael  looked  at  Jack;  while 
Sarah  looked  at  both  in  turn. 

"  You  surely  will  not  deny,  sir,  that  the  trial  by  jury  is  one 
of  the  most  precious  of  the  gifts  received  from  our  ancestors?" 
said  the  first,  a  little  categorically,  Sarah  brightening  up  at  this 
question,  as  if  she  fancied  that  her  brother  had  now  got  on  solid 
ground. 

"  Your  question  cannot  be  answered  in  a  breath,  Jack,"  re 
turned  the  uncle.  "  The  trial  by  jury  was  undoubtedly  a  most 
precious  boon  bestowed  on  a  people  among  whom  there  existed 
an  hereditary  ruling  power,  on  the  abuses  of  which  it  was  often 
a  most  salutary  check." 

"Well,  sir,  is  it  not  the  same  check  here;  assuring  to  the 
citizens  independent  justice?" 

"Who  compose  the  ruling  power  in  America,  Jack?" 

"The  people,  to  be  sure,  sir." 

"And  who  the  jurors?" 

"The  people,  too,  I  suppose,"  answered  the  nephew,  hesitai 
ing  a  little  before  he  replied, 


18  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  Well,  let  us  suppose  a  citizen  has  a  conflict  of  rights  with 
the  public,  which  is  the  governmont,  who  will  compose  the  tri 
bunal  that  is  to  decide  the  question?" 

"  A  jury,  to  be  sure,  sir.  The  trial  by  jury  is  guarantied  by 
the  constitution,  to  us  all." 

"Ay,"  said  Mr.  Dunseomb,  smiling,  "much  as  are  our  reli 
gious  and  political  liberties.  But  according  to  your  own  admis 
sion,  this  is  very  much  like  making  one  of  the  parties  a  judge  in 
his  own  case.  A.  insists  that  he  has  a  right  to  certain  lands,  foi 
instance,  which  the  public  claims  for  itself.  In  such  a  case,  part 
of  the  public  compose  the  tribunal." 

"But  is  it  not  true,  Mr.  Dunseomb,"  put  in  Millington, 
"  that  the  popular  prejudice  is  usually  against  government,  in  all 
cases  with  private  citizens?" 

Sarah's  face  looked  brighter  now  than  ever,  for  she  felt  sure 
that  Mike,  as  her  brother  familiarly  called  his  friend,  had  asked 
a  most  apposite  question. 

"  Certainly  ;  you  are  right  as  to  particular  sets  of  cases,  but 
wrong  as  to  others.  In  a  commercial  town  like  this,  the  feeling 
is  against  government  in  all  cases  connected  with  the  collection 
of  the  revenue,  I  admit;  and  you  will  see  that  the  fact  makes 
against  the  trial  by  jury  in  another  form,  since  a  judge  ought  to 
be  strictly  impartial;  above  all  prejudice  whatever." 

"But,  uncle,  a  judge  and  a  jury  are  surely  very  different 
things,"  cried  Sarah,  secretly  impelled  to  come  to  Michael's 
rescue,  though  she  scarce  knew  anything  of  the  merits  of  the 
subject. 

"  Quite  right,  my  dear,"  the  uncle  answered,  nodding  his  head 
kindly,  casting  a  glance  at  his  niece  that- caused  her  to  blush  un 
der  the  consciousness  of  being  fully  understood  in  her  motives, 
if  not  in  her  remark.  "Most  profoundly  right;  a  judge  and  a 
juror  ought  to  be  very  different  things.  What  I  most  complain 
of  is  the  fact  that  the  jurors  are  fast  becoming  judges.  Nay,  by 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  19 

G-eorge,  they  are  getting  to  be  legislators,  making  the  law  as  well 
as  interpreting  it.  How  often  does  it  happen,  now-a-days,  that 
the  court  tell  the  jury  that  such  is  the  law,  and  the  jury  comes 
in  with  a  verdict  which  tells  the  court  that  such  is  not  the  law  ? 
This  is  an  every-day  occurrence,  in  the  actual  state  of  public 
opinion." 

"  But  the  court  will  order  a  new  trial,  if  the  verdict  is  against 

law  and  evidence/'  said  Michael,  determined  that  Sarah  should 

.-  * 
be  sustained. 

"  Ay,  and  another  jury  will  be  quite  likely  to  sustain  the  old 
one.  No — no — the  trial  by  jury  is  no  more  a  palladium  of  our 
liberties,  than  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

"Who,  or  what  is,  then,  sir?"  demanded  Jack. 

"  God !  Yes,  the  Deity,  in  his  Divine  Providence ;  if  any 
thing  is  to  save  us.  It  may  not  be  his  pleasure  to  let  us  perish, 
for  it  would  seem  that  some  great  plan  for  the  advancement  of 
civilization  is  going  on,  and  it  may  be  a  part  of  it  to  make  us 
important  agents.  All  things  regarded,  I  am  much  inclined  to 
believe  such  is  the  fact.  But,  did  the  result  depend  on  us, 
miserable  instruments  in  the  Almighty  hands  as  we  are,  woeful 
would  be  the  end  I" 

"You  do  not  look  at  things  couleur  de  rose,  Uncle  Tom," 
Sarah  smilingly  observed. 

"  Because  I  am  not  a  young  lady  of  twenty,  who  is  well  satis 
fied  with  herself  and  her  advantages.  There  is  but  one  character 
for  which  I  have  a  greater  contempt  than  that  of  a  senseless 
grumbler,  who  regards  all  things  a  tort  et  a  tr avers,  and  who 
cries,  there  is  nothing  good  in  the  world/' 

"And  what  is  the  exception,  sir?" 

"  The  man  who  is  puffed  up  with  conceit,  and  fancies  all 
around  him  perfection,  when  so  much  of  it  is  the  reverse; 
who  ever  shouts  '  liberty/  in  the  midst  of  the  direst  oppres- 


20  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  But  direst  oppression  is  certainly  no  term  to  be  applied  to 
anything  in  New  York !" 

"  You  think  not  ?  What  would  you  say  to  a  state  of  society 
in  which  the  law  is  available  to  one  class  of  citizens  only,  in  the 
way  of  compulsion,  and  not  at  all,  in  the  way  of  protection?" 

"  I  do  not  understand  you,  sir ;  here,  it  is  our  boast  that  all 
are  protected,  alike." 

"Ay,  so  far  as  boasting  goes,  we  are  beyond  reproach.  But 
what  are  the  facts  ?  Here  is  a  man  that  owes  money.  The  law 
is  appealed  to,  to  compel  payment.  Verdict  is  rendered,  and 
execution  issued.  The  sheriff  enters  his  house,  and  sells  his 
very  furniture,  to  extort  the  amount  of  the  debt  from  him." 

"  That  is  his  misfortune,  sir.  Such  things  must  happen  to  all 
debtors  who  cannot,  or  will  not,  pay." 

"  If  this  were  true,  I  should  have  nothing  to  say.  Imagine 
this  very  debtor  to  be  also  a  creditor;  to  have  debts  due  to  him, 
of  many  times  the  sums  that  he  owes,  but  which  the  law  will  not 
aid  him  in  collecting.  For  him,  the  law  is  all  oppression — no 
protection." 

"But,  surely,  Uncle  Tom,  nothing  of  the  sort  exists  here !" 

"  Surely,  Miss  Sarah  Wilmeter,  such  things  do  exist  here  in 
practice,  whatever  may  be  the  theory  on  the  subject;  what  is 
more,  they  exist  under  the  influence  of  facts  that  are  directly  con 
nected  with  the  working  of  the  institutions.  My  case  is  not  sup 
posititious,  at  all,  but  real.  Several  landlords  have  quite  recently 
felt  all  the  rigours  of  the  law  as  debtors,  when  it  was  a  dead  letter 
to  them,  in  their  character  of  creditors.  This  has  actually  hap 
pened,  and  that  more  than  once ;  and  it  might  happen  a  hundred 
times,  were  the  landlords  more  in  debt.  In  the  latter  case,  it 
would  be  an  every-day  occurrence." 

"What,  sir,"  exclaimed  Michael  Millington;  "the  law  en 
force,  when  it  will  not  protect?" 

"That  it  does,  young  man,  in  many  interests  that  I  could 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  21 

point  out  to  you.  But  here  is  as  flagrant  a  case  of  unmitigated 
tyranny  as  can  be  cited  against  any  country  in  Christendom.  A 
citizen  is  sold  out  of  house  and  home,  under  process  of  law,  for 
debt;  and  when  he  asks  for  the  use  of  the  same  process  of  law 
to  collect  his  undeniable  dues,  it  is,  in  effect,  denied  him.  And 
this  among  the  people  who  boast  that  their  independence  is 
derived  from  a  spirit  that  would  not  be  taxed !  A  people  who 
are  hourly  shouting  hosannas  in  honour  of  their  justice  I" 

"It  cannot  be,  Uncle  Tom,  that  this  is  done,  in  terms/'  cried 
the  astounded  nephew. 

"If,  by  terms,  you  mean  professions  of  justice,  and  liberty, 
and  equal  rights,  they  are  fair  enough ;  in  all  those  particulars 
we  are  irreproachable.  As  'professors'  no  people  can  talk  more 
volubly  or  nearer  to  the  point  —  I  allude  only  to  facts/' 

"  But  these  facts  may  be  explained  —  qualified  —  are  not  as 
flagrant  as  they  seem  under  your  statement  ?" 

"In  what  manner?" 

"Why,  sir,  this  is  but  a  temporary  evil,  perhaps." 

"It  has  lasted,  not  days,  nor  weeks,  nor  months,  but  years. 
What  is  more,  it  is  an  evil  that  has  not  occurred  in  a  corner, 
where  it  might  be  overlooked ;  but  it  exists  within  ten  miles  of 
your  capital,  in  plain  sight  of  your  legislators,  and  owes  its  im 
punity  solely  to  their  profound  deference  to  votes.  In  a  word, 
it  is  a  part  of  the  political  system  under  which  we  live ;  and  that 
far  more  so  than  any  disposition  to  tyranny  that  might  happen  to 
manifest  itself  in  an  individual  king." 

"  Do  not  the  tenants  who  refuse  to  pay,  fancy  that  their  land 
lords  have  no  right  to  their  estates,  and  does  not  the  whole  diffi 
culty  arise  from  misapprehension?"  asked  Michael,  a  little 
timidly. 

"  What  would  that  have  to  do  with  the  service  of  process,  if  it 
were  true  ?  When  a  sheriff's  officer  comes  among  these  men, 
they  take  his  authority  from  him,  and  send  him  away  empty, 


22  THE  WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

Eights  are  to  be  determined  only  by  the  law,  since  they  ar« 
derived  from  the  law ;  and  he  who  meets  the  law  at  the  threshold, 
and  denies  it  entrance,  can  never  seriously  pretend  that  he  resists 
because  the  other  party  has  no  claims.  No,  no,  young  gentle 
man — this  is  all  a  fetch.  The  evil  is  of  years'  standing ;  it  is  of 
the  character  of  the  direst  oppression,  and  of  oppression  of  the 
worst  sort,  that  of  many  oppressing  a  few;  cases  in  which  the 
sufferer  is  cut  off  from  sympathy,  as  you  can  see  by  the  apathy 
of  the  community,  which  is  singing  hosannas  to  its  own  perfec 
tion,  while  this  great  wrong  is  committed  under  its  very  nose. 
Had  a  landlord  oppressed  his  tenants,  their  clamour  would  have 
made  itself  heard  throughout  the  land.  The  worst  feature  in 
the  case,  is  that  which  connects  the  whole  thing  so  very  obviously 
with  the  ordinary  working  of  the  institutions.  If  it  were  merely 
human  covetousness  struggling  against  the  institutions,  the  last 
might  prove  the  strongest ;  but  it  is  cupidity,  of  the  basest  and 
most  transparent  nature,  using  the  institutions  themselves  to 
effect  its  purpose/' 

"  I  am  surprised  that  something  was  not  done  by  the  last  con 
vention  to  meet  the  evil  V  said  Jack,  who  was  much  struck  with 
the  enormity  of  the  wrong,  placed  before  his  eyes  in  its  simplest 
form,  as  it  had  been  by  his  direct-minded  and  clear-headed 
kinsman. 

"  That  is  because  you  do  not  know  what  a  convention  has  got 
to  be.  Its  object  is  to  push  principles  into  impracticable  ex 
tremes,  under  the  silly  pretension  of  progress,  and  not  to  abate 
evils.  I  made  a  suggestion  myself,  to  certain  members  of  that 
convention,  which,  in  my  poor  judgment,  would  have  effectually 
cured  this  disease ;  but  no  member  had  the  courage  to  propose  it. 
Doubtless,  it  would  have  been  useless  had  it  been  otherwise/' 

"  It  was  worth  the  trial,  if  such  were  likely  to  be  its  result. 
What  was  your  plan,  sir?" 

"  Simply  to  disfranchise  any  district  in  which  the  law  could 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR.  23 

not  be  enforced  by  means  of  combinations  of  its  people.  On 
application  to  the  highest  court  of  the  state,  an  order  might  be 
granted  that  no  polls  should  be  held  in  one,  or  more,  towns,  or 
counties,  in  which  combinations  existed  of  a  force  sufficient  to 
prevent  the  laws  from  being  put  in  force.  Nothing  could  be 
more  just  than  to  say  that  men  who  will  not  obey  the  law  shall 
not  have  a  voice  in  making  it,  and  to  me  it  really  seems  that 
some  such  provision  would  be  the  best  possible  expedient  to 
check  this  growing  evil.  It  would  be  choking  the  enemy  with 
his  own  food." 

"  "Why  was  it  not  done,  sir  ?" 

"  Simply  because  our  sages  were  speculating  on  votes,  and  not 
on  principles.  They  will  talk  to  you  like  so  many  books  touch 
ing  the  vices  of  all  foreign  systems,  but  are  ready  to  die  in  de 
fence  of  the  perfection  of  their  own/' 

"  Why  was  it  necessary  to  make  a  new  constitution,  the  other 
day,"  asked  Sarah,  innocently,  "if  the  old  one  was  so  very 
excellent?" 

"  Sure  enough  —  the  answer  might  puzzle  wiser  heads  than 
yours,  child.  Perfection  requires  a  great  deal  of  tinkering,  in 
this  country.  We  scarcely  adopt  one  plan  that  shall  secure 
everybody's  rights  and  liberties,  than  another  is  broached,  to 
secure  some  newly-discovered  rights  and  liberties.  With  the 
dire  example  before  them,  of  the  manner  in  which  the  elective 
franchise  is  abused,  in  this  anti-rent  movement,  the  sages  of  the 
land  have  just  given  to  the  mass  the  election  of  judges;  as  beau 
tiful  a  scheme  for  making  the  bench  coalesce  with  the  jury-box, 
as  human  ingenuity  could  invent !" 

As  all  present  knew  that  Mr.  Dunscomb  was  bitterly  opposed 
to  the  new  constitution,  no  one  was  surprised  at  this  last  asser 
tion.  It  did  create  wonder,  however,  in  the  minds  of  all  three 
of  the  ingenuous  young  persons,  when  the  fact  —  an  undeniable 
and  most  crushing  one  it  is,  too,  so  far  as  any  high  pretension  to 


24  THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

true  liberty  is  concerned  —  was  plainly  laid  before  them,  that 
citizens  were  to  be  found  in  New  York  against  whom  the  law 
was  rigidly  enforced,  while  it  was  powerless  in  their  behalf. 
We  have  never  known  this  aspect  of  the  case  presented  to  any 
mind,  that  it  did  not  evidently  produce  a  deep  impression,  for 
the  moment ;  but,  alas !  "  what  is  everybody's  business  is  no 
body's  business,"  and  few  care  for  the  violation  of  a  principle, 
when  the  wrong  does  not  affect  themselves.  These  young  folk 
were,  like  all  around  them,  unconscious  even  that  they  dwelt  in 
a  community  in  which  so  atrocious  a  wrong  was  daily  done,  and, 
for  the  moment,  were  startled  when  the  truth  was  placed  before 
their  eyes.  The  young  men,  near  friends,  and,  by  certain  signs, 
likely  to  be  even  more  closely  united,  were  much  addicted  to 
speculating  on  the  course  of  events,  as  they  conceived  them  to 
be  tending,  in  other  countries.  Michael  Millington,  in  par 
ticular,  was  a  good  deal  of  a  general  politician,  having  delivered 
several  orations,  in  which  he  had  laid  some  stress  on  the  greater 
happiness  of  the  people  of  this  much  favoured  land,  over  those 
of  all  other  countries,  and  especially  on  the  subject  of  equal 
rights.  He  was  too  young,  yet,  to  have  learned  the  wholesome 
truth,  that  equality  of  rights,  in  practice,  exists  nowhere;  the 
ingenuity  and  selfishness  of  man  finding  the  means  to  pervert  to 
narrow  purposes,  the  most  cautious  laws  that  have  ever  been 
adopted  in  furtherance  of  a  principle  that  would  seem  to  be  so 
just.  Nor  did  he  know  that  the  Bible  contains  all  the  wisdom 
and  justice,  transmitted  as  divine  precepts,  that  are  necessary 
to  secure  to  every  man  all  that  it  is  desirable  to  possess  here 
below. 

The  conversation  was  terminated  by  the  entrance  of  a  fourth 
colloquist,  in  the  person  of  Edward  McBrain,  M.  D.,  who  was 
not  only  the  family  physician,  but  the  bosom  friend  of  the 
lawyer.  The  two  liked  each  other  on  the  principle  of  loving 
their  opposites.  One  was  a  bachelor,  the  other  was  about  to 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  25 

marry  his  third  wife ;  one  was  a  little  of  a  cynic,  the  other  much 
of  a  philanthropist ;  one  distrustful  of  human  nature,  the  other 
too  confiding ;  one  cautious  to  excess,  the  other  absolutely  im 
petuous,  whenever  anything  strongly  interested  his  feelings. 
They  were  alike  in  being  Manhattanese  by  birth,  somewhat  a 
novelty  in  a  New  Yorker;  in  being  equally  graduates  of  Colum 
bia,  and  classmates;  in  a  real  love  of  their  fellow-creatures; 
in  goodness  of  heart,  and  in  integrity.  Had  either  been  want 
ing  in  these  last  great  essentials,  the  other  could  not  have 
endured  him. 


CHAPTER  II. 

O  change !  —  stupendous  ehang* ! 

rhere  lies  the  soulless  clod} 
Tlie  sun  eternal  breaks  — 
The  new  immortal  wakes  — 

Wakes  with  his  God. 

Mrs.  Swthey. 

As  Dr.  McErain  entered  the  room,  the  two  young  men  and 
Sarah,  after  saluting  him  like  very  familiar  acquaintances,  passed 
out  into  what  the  niece  called  her  '  garden/'  Here  she  imme 
diately  set  her  scissors  at  work  in  clipping  roses,  violets,  and 
other  early  flowers,  to  make  bou^aets  for  her  companions.  That 
of  Michael  was  much  the  largest  and  most  tasteful ;  but  this  her 
brother  did  not  remark,  as  he  was  in  a  brown  study,  reflecting 
on  the  singularity  of  the  circumstance  that  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  should  not  be  the  "  palladium  of  his  political 
and  religious  liberties/'  Jack  saw,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life, 
that  a  true  knowledge  of  the  constitution  was  not  to  be  founa 
floating  about  in  society,  and  that  "there  was  more  in  the 
nature  of  the  great  national  compact  than  was  dreamt  of  in  his 
philosophy/' 

"Well,  Ned/'  said  the  lawyer,  holding  out  his  hand  kindly 
but  not  rising  from  his  chair,  "what  has  brought  you  here  so 
early?  Has  old  Martha  spoilt  your  tea?" 

"Not  at  all;  I  have  paid  this  visit,  as  it  might  be,  pro 
fessionally." 

"  Professionally !     I  never  was  better  in  my  life ;  and  set  you 

(26) 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  27 

down  as  a  false  prophet,  or  no  doctor,  if  you  like  that  better,  for 
the  gout  has  not  even  given  a  premonitory  hint,  this  spring;  and 
I  hope,  now  I  have  given  up  Sauterne  altogether,  and  take  but 
four  glasses  of  Madeira  at  dinner " 

"  Two,  too  many." 

"  I  '11  engage  to  drink  nothing  but  sherry,  Ned,  if  you  '11  con 
sent  to  four,  and  that  without  any  of  those  forbidding  looks." 

"  Agreed ;  sherry  has  less  acidity,  and  consequently  less  gout, 
than  Madeira.  But  my  business  here  this  morning,  though 
professional,  does  not  relate  to  my  craft,  but  to  your  own/ 

"To  the  law?  Now  I  take  another  look  at  you,  I  do  see 
trouble  in  your  physiognomy;  am  I  not  to  draw  the  marriage 
settlements,  after  all?" 

"  There  are  to  be  none.  The  new  law  gives  a  woman  the 
entire  control  of  all  her  property,  they  tell  me,  and  I  suppose 
she  will  not  expect  the  control  of  mine." 

"  Umph  !  Yes,  she  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  things  as  they 
are,  for  she  will  remain  mistress  of  all  her  cups  and  saucers, 
even,  —  ay,  and  of  her  houses  and  lands,  in  the  bargain.  Hang 
me,  if  I  would  ever  marry,  when  the  contract  is  so  one 
sided." 

"  You  never  did,  when  the  contract  was  t'  other-sided.  For 
my  part,  Tom,  I  'm  disposed  to  leave  a  woman  mistress  of  her 
own.  The  experiment  is  worth  the  trial,  if  it  be  only  to  see  the 
use  she  will  make  of  her  money." 

"  You  are  always  experimenting  among  the  women,  and  are 
about  to  try  a  third  wife.  Thank  Heaven,  I  've  got  on  sixty 
years,  quite  comfortably,  without  even  one." 

"You  have  only  half  lived  your  life.  No  old  bachelor  — 
meaning  a  man  after  forty  —  knows  anything  of  real  happiness. 
It  is  necessary  to  be  married,  in  order  to  be  truly  happy." 

"I  wonder  you  did  not  add,  ' two  or  three  times/  But  you 
may  make  this  new  contract  with  greater  confidence  than  either 


28  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

of  the  others.  I  suppose  you  have  seen  this  new  divorce  project 
that  is,  or  has  been,  before  the  legislature  ?" 

"  Divorce  !  I  trust  no  such  foolish  law  will  pass.  This  call 
ing  marriage  a  '  contract/  too,  is  what  I  never  liked.  It  is 
something  far  more  than  a  'contract/  in  my  view  of  the 
matter." 

"  Still,  that  is  what  the  law  considers  it  to  be.  Get  out  of 
this  new  scrape,  Ned,  if  you  can  with  any  honour,  and  remain 
an  independent  freeman  for  the  rest  of  your  days.  I  dare  say 
the  widow  could  soon  find  some  other  amorous  youth  to  place 
her  affections  on.  It  matters  not  much  whom  a  woman  loves, 
provided  she  love.  Of  this,  I  'm  certain,  from  seeing  the  sort 
of  animals  so  many  do  love." 

"  Nonsense ;  a  bachelor  talking  of  love,  or  matrimony,  usually 
makes  a  zany  of  himself.  It  is  terra  incognita  to  you,  my  boy, 
and  the  less  you  say  about  it,  the  better.  You  are  the  only 
human  being,  Tom,  I  ever  met  with,  who  has  not,  some  time  or 
other,  been  in  love.  I  really  believe  you  never  knew  what  the 
passion  is." 

"  I  fell  in  love,  early  in  life,  with  a  certain  my  lord  Coke,  and 
have  remained  true  to  my  first  attachment.  Besides,  I  saw  I 
had  an  intimate  friend  who  would  do  all  the  marrying  that  was 
necessary  for  two,  or  even  for  three  ;  so  I  determined,  from  the 
first,  to  remain  single.  A  man  has  only  to  be  firm,  and  he  may 
set  Cupid  at  defiance.  It  is  not  so  with  women,  I  do  believe  ~}  it 
is  part  of  their  nature  to  love,  else  would  no  woman  admire  you, 
at  your  time  of  life." 

"  I  don  ;t  know  that — I  am  by  no  means  sure  of  that.  Each 
time  I  had  the  misfortune  to  become  a  widower,  I  was  just  aa 
determined  to  pass  the  remainder  of  my  days  in  reflecting  on  the 
worth  of  her  I  had  lost,  as  you  can  be  to  remain  a  bachelor ;  but 
somehow  or  other,  I  don't  pretend  to  account  for  it,  not  a  year 
passed  before  I  have  found  inducements  to  enter  into  new  en* 


THEWAYSOFTHEHOUR.  29 

gagements.  It  is  a  blessed  thing,  is  matrimony,  and  I  am 
resolved  not  to  continue  single  an  hour  longer  than  is  ne 
cessary." 

Dunscomb  laughed  out,  at  the  earnest  manner  in  which  his 
friend  spoke,  though  conversations,  like  this  we  have  been  relat 
ing,  were  of  frequent  occurrence  between  them. 

"  The  same  old  sixpence,  Ned !  A  Benedict  as  a  boy,  a  Bene 
dict  as  a  man,  and  a  Benedict  as  a  dotard ' ' 

"  Dotard !     My  good  fellow,  let  me  tell  you " 

"  Poh  !  I  don't  desire  to  hear  it.  But  as  you  came  on  busi 
ness  connected  with  the  law,  and  that  business  is  not  a  marriage- 
settlement,  what  is  it  ?  Does  old  Kingsborough  maintain  his 
right  to  the  Harlem  lot?" 

"  No,  he  has  given  the  claim  up,  at  last.  My  business,  Tom, 
is  of  a  very  different  nature.  What  are  we  coming  to;  and  what 
is  to  be  the  end  of  >t  all  I" 

As  the  doctor  looked  far  more  than  he  expressed,  Dunscomb 
was  struck  with  his  manner.  The  Siamese  twins  scarce  under 
stand  each  other's  impulses  and  wishes  better  than  these  two 
men  comprehended  each  other's  feelings ;  and  Tom  saw  at  once 
that  Ned  was  now  very  much  in  earnest. 

" Coming  to?"  repeated  Dunscomb.  "Do  you  mean  the 
new  code,  or  the  '  Woman-hold-the-Purse  Law/  as  I  call  it?  I 
don't  believe  you  look  far  enough  ahead  to  foresee  all  the  dam 
nable  consequences  of  an  elective  judiciary." 

"  It  is  not  that — this,  or  that — I  do  not  mean  codes,  constitu 
tions,  or  pin-money.  What  is  the  country  coming  to,  Tom  Duns- 
comb  —  that  is  the  question,  I  ask." 

"  Well,  and  has  the  country  nothing  to  do  with  constitutions, 
codes,  and  elective  judges  ?  I  can  tell  you,  Master  Ned  McBrain, 
M.  D.,  that  if  the  patient  is  to  be  saved  at  all,  it  must  be  by 
means  of  the  judiciary,  and  I  do  not  like  the  advice  that  has  just 
been  called  in." 


30  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  You  are  a  croaker.  They  tell  me  the  new  judges  are  rea 
sonably  good." 

" '  Reasonably'  is  an  expressive  word.  The  new  judges  are 
old  judges,  in  part,  and  in  so  much  they  do  pretty  well,  by 
chance.  Some  of  the  new  judges  are  excellent  —  but  one  of  the 
very  best  men  on  the  whole  bench  was  run  against  one  of  the 
worst  men  who  could  have  been  put  in  his  place.  At  the  next 
heat  I  fear  the  bad  fellow  will  get  the  track.  If  you  do  not 
mean  what  I  have  mentioned,  what  do  you  mean  ?" 

"  I  mean  the  increase  of  crime  —  the  murders,  arsons,  rob 
beries,  and  other  abominations  that  seem  to  take  root  among  us, 
like  so  many  exotics  transplanted  to  a  genial  soil." 

" '  Exotics'  and  '  genial'  be  hanged !  Men  are  alike  every 
where.  No  one  but  a  fool  ever  supposed  that  a  republic  is  to 
stand,  or  fall,  by  its  virtue." 

"  Yet,  the  common  opinion  is  that  such  must  be  the  final  test 
of  our  institutions." 

"  Jack  has  just  been  talking  nonsense  on  this  subject,  and 
now  you  must  come  to  aid  him.  But,  what  has  your  business 
with  me,  this  morning,  to  do  with  the  general  depreciation  m 
morals?" 

"  A  great  deal,  as  you  will  allow,  when  you  come  to  hear  my 
story." 

Dr.  McBrain  then  proceeded  forthwith  to  deliver  himself  of 
the  matter  which  weighed  so  heavily  on  his  mind.  He  was  the 
owner  of  a  small  place  in  an  adjoining  county,  where  it  was  his 
custom  to  pass  as  much  time,  during  the  pleasant  months,  as  a 
very  extensive  practice  in  town  would  allow.  This  was  not 
much,  it  is  true,  though  the  worthy  physician  so  contrived 
matters,  that  his  visits  to  Timbully,  as  the  place  was  called,  if 
not  long,  were  tolerably  numerous.  A  kind-hearted,  as  well  as 
a  reasonably-affluent  man,  he  never  denied  his  professional  ser 
vices  to  his  country  neighbours,  who  eagerly  asked  his  advica 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  31 

whenever  there  was  need  of  it.  This  portion  of  the  doctor's 
practice  flourished  on  two  accounts,  —  one  being  his  known  skill, 
and  the  other  his  known  generosity.  In  a  word,  Dr.  McBrain 
never  received  any  compensation  for  his  advice,  from  any  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  his  country  residence.  This  ren 
dered  him  exceedingly  popular ;  and  he  might  have  been  sent  to 
Albany,  but  for  a  little  cold  water  that  was  thrown  on  the  pro 
ject  by  a  shrewd  patriot,  who  suggested  that  while  the  physician 
was  attending  to  affairs  of  state,  he  could  not  be  administering 
to  the  ailings  of  his  Timbully  neighbours.  This  may  have 
checked  the  doctor's  advancement,  but  it  did  not  impair  his 
popularity. 

Now,  it  happened  that  the  bridegroom-expectant  had  been  out 
to  Timbully,  a  distance  of  less  than  fifteen  miles  from  his  house 
in  Bleecker  street,  with  a  view  to  order  matters  for  the  reception 
of  the  bride,  it  being  the  intention  of  the  couple  that  were  soon 
to  be  united  to  pass  a  few  days  there,  immediately  after  the  cere 
mony  was  performed.  It  waa  while  at  his  place,  attending  to 
this  most  important  duty,  that  an  express  came  from  the  county 
town,  requiring  his  presence  before  the  coroner,  where  he  was 
-expected  to  give  his  evidence  as  a  medical  man.  It  seems  that  a 
house  had  been  burned,  and  its  owners,  an  aged  couple,  had 
been  burnt  in  it.  The  remains  of  the  bodies  had  been  found, 
and  an  inquest  was  about  to  be  held  on  them.  This  was  pretty 
much  all  that  the  messenger  could  tell,  though  he  rather  thought 
that  it  was  suspected  the  house  had  been  set  on  fire,  and  the  old 
people,  consequently,  murdered. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  Dr.  McBrain  obeyed  the  summons.  A 
county  town,  in  America,  is  often  little  more  than  a  hamlet, 
though  in  New  York  they  are  usually  places  of  some  greater  pre 
tensions.  The  state  has  now  near  a  dozen  incorporated  cities, 
with  their  mayors  and  aldermen,  and  with  one  exception,  we  be 
lieve  these  are  all  county  towns.  Then  come  the  incorporated 


32  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

villages,  in  which  New  York  is  fast  getting  to  Ibe  rich,  places 
containing  from  one  to  six  or  seven  thousand  souls,  and  which, 
as  a  rule,  are  steadily  growing  into  respectable  provincial  towns. 
The  largest  of  these  usually  contain  "the  county  buildings/'  aa 
it  is  the  custom  to  express  it.  But,  in  the  older  counties,  imme 
diately  around  the  great  commercial  capital  of  the  entire  republic, 
these  large  villages  do  not  always  exist ;  or  when  they  do  exist, 
are  not  sufficiently  central  to  meet  the  transcendental  justice  of 
democratic  equality  —  a  quality  that  is  sometimes  of  as  exacting 
pretension,  as  of  real  imbecility;  as  witness  the  remarks  of  Mr. 
Dunscomb,  in  our  opening  chapter. 

The  county  buildings  of happen  to  stand  in  a  small 

village,  or  what  is  considered  a  small  village,  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  state.  As  the  events  of  this  tale  are  so  recent,  and  the 
localities  so  familiar  to  many  persons,  we  choose  to  -call  this  vil 
lage  "Biberry,"  and  the  county  "Dukes."  Such  was  once  the 
name  of  a  New  York  county,  though  the  appellation  has  been 
dropped,  and  this  not  from  any  particular  distaste  for  the  straw 
berry  leaves;  "Kings,"  "  Queens,"  and  "  Duchess"  having  been 
wisely  retained  —  wisely,  as  names  should  be  as  rarely  changed 
as  public  convenience  will  allow. 

Dr.  McBrain  found  the  village  of  Biberry  in  a  high  state  of 
excitement ;  one,  indeed,  of  so  intense  a  nature  as  to  be  far  from 
favourable  to  the  judicial  enquiry  that  was  then  going  on  in  the 
court-house.  The  old  couple  who  were  the  sufierers  in  this  affair 
had  been  much  respected  by  all  who  knew  them ;  he  as  a  common 
place,  well-meaning  man,  of  no  particular  capacity,  and  she  aa 
a  managing,  discreet,  pious  woman,  whose  greatest  failing  was  a 
neatness  that  was  carried  somewhat  too  near  to  ferocity.  Never 
theless,  Mrs.  G-oodwin  was,  generally,  even  more  respected  than 
her  husband,  for  she  had  the  most  mind,  transacted  most  of  the 
business  of  the  family,  and  was  habitually  kind  and  attentive  to 
e  /ery  one  who  entered  her  dwelling ;  provided,  always,  that  thej 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  33 

wiped  their  feet  on  her  mats,  of  which  it  was  necessary  to  pass 
no  less  than  six,  before  the  little  parlour  was  reached,  and  did 
not  spit  on  her  carpet,  or  did  not  want  any  of  her  money.  This 
popularity  added  greatly  to  the  excitement;  men,  and  women 
also,  commonly  feeling  a  stronger  desire  to  investigate  wrongs 
done  to  those  they  esteem,  than  to  investigate  wrongs  done  to 
those  concerning  whom  they  are  indifferent. 

Doctor  McBrain  found  the  charred  remains  of  this  unfortunate 
couple  laid  on  a  table  in  the  court-house,  the  coroner  in  attend 
ance,  and  a  jury  empanelled.  Much  of  the  evidence  concerning 
the  discovery  of  the  fire  had  been  gone  through  with,  and  was 
of  a  very  simple  character.  Some  one  who  was  stirring  earlier 
than  common  had  seen  the  house  in  a  bright  blaze,  had  given 
the  alarm,  and  had  preceded  the  crowd  from  the  village,  on  the 
road  to  the  burning  dwelling.  The  Goodwins  had  resided  in  a 
neat,  retired  cottage,  at  the  distance  of  near  two  miles  from 
Biberry,  though  in  sight  from  the  village ;  and  by  the  time  the 
first  man  from  the  latter  reached  the  spot,  the  roof  had  fallen  in, 
and  the  materials  were  mostly  consumed.  A  dozen,  or  more,  of 
the  nearest  neighbours  were  collected  around  the  ruins,  and 
some  articles  of  household  furniture  had  been  saved ;  but,  on  the 
whole,  it  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  sudden  and  destructive 
fires  ever  known  in  that  part  of  the  country.  "When  the  engine 
arrived  from  the  village,  it  played  briskly  on  the  fire,  and  was 
the  means  of  soon  reducing  all  within  the  outer  walls,  which 
were  of  stone,  to  a  pile  of  blackened  and  smouldering  wood.  It 
was  owing  to  this  circumstance  that  any  portion  of  the  remains 
of  the  late  owners  of  the  house  had  been  found,  as  was  done  in 
the  manner  thus  described,  in  his  testimony,  by  Peter  Bacon,  the 
person  who  had  first  given  the  alarm  in  Biberry. 

"  As  soon  as  ever  I  seed  it  was  Peter  G  Godwin's  house  that 
made  the  light/'  continued  this  intelligent  witness,  in  the  course 
of  his  examination,  —  "I  guv'  the  alarm,  and  started  off  on  the 

2* 


34  THE   WAYS    OP   THE    HOUR. 

run,  to  see  what  I  could  do.  By  the  time  I  got  to  the  top  of 
Brudler's  Hill,  I  was  fairly  out  of  breath,  I  can  tell  you,  Mr. 
Coroner  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  and  so  I  was  obliged  to 
pull  up  a  bit.  This  guv'  the  fire  a  so  much  better  sweep,  and 
when  I  reached  the  spot,  there  was  little  chance  for  doing  much 
good.  We  got  out  a  chest  of  drawers,  and  the  young  woman 
who  boarded  with  the  Goodwins  was  helped  down  out  of  the 
window,  and  most  of  her  clothes,  I  b'lieve,  was  saved,  so  far  as  I 
know/' 

" Stop,"  interrupted  the  coroner;  "there  was  a  young  woman 
in  the  house,  you  say." 

"Yes;  what  I  call  a  young  woman,  or  a  gal  like;  though 
other  some  calls  her  a  young  woman.  Waal,  she  was  got  out ; 
and  her  clothes  was  got  out ;  but  nobody  could  get  out  the  old 
folks.  As  soon  as  the  ingyne  come  up  we  turned  on  the  water, 
and  that  put  out  the  fire  about  the  quickest.  Arter  that  we  went 
to  digging  and  soon  found  what  folks  call  the  remains,  though 
to  my  notion  there  is  little  enough  on  'em  that  is  left." 

"You  dug  out  the  remains,"  said  the  coroner,  writing;  "in 
what  state  did  you  find  them  ?" 

"  In  what  I  call  a  pretty  poor  state ;  much  as  you  see  'em 
there,  on  the  table." 

"  What  has  become  of  the  young  lady  you  have  mentioned?" 
enquired  the  coroner,  who,  as  a  public  functionary,  deemed  it 
prudent  to  put  all  of  the  sex  into  the  same  general  category. 

"  I  can't  tell  you,  'squire ;  I  never  see'd  her  arter  she  was  got 
out  of  the  window." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  she  was  the  hired-girl  of  the  family, — or 
had  the  old  lady  no  help  ?" 

"  I  kinder  think  she  was  a  boarder,  like ;  one  that  paid  her 
keeping"  answered  the  witness,  who  was  not  a  person  to  draw 
very  nice  distinctions,  as  the  reader  will  have  no  difficulty  in 
Conceiving,  from  his  dialect.  "  It  seems  to  me  I  heer'n  tell  of 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  35 

another  help  in  the  Goodwin  family  —  a  sorter  Jarman,  or  Irish 
iady." 

"  Was  any  such  woman  seen  about  the  house  this  morning, 
when  the  ruins  were  searched  ?" 

"  Not  as  J'ner.  We  turned  orer  the  brands  and  sticks,  until 
we  come  across  the  old  folks ;  then  everybody  seemed  to  think 
the  work  was  pretty  much  done/7 

"In  what  state,  or  situation,  were  these  remains  found?" 

41  Burnt  to  a  crisp,  just  as  you  see  'em,  'squire,  as  I  said 
afore ;  a  pretty  poor  state  for  human  beings  to  be  in." 

"  But  where  were  they  lying,  and  were  they  near  each  other  V  * 

"  Close  together.  Their  heads,  if  a  body  can  call  them  black 
iookin'  skulls  heads,  at  all,  almost  touched,  if  they  did  n't  quite 
touch,  each  other;  their  feet  lay  further  apart." 

"Do  you  think  you  could  place  the  skeletons  in  the  same 
manner,  as  respects  each  other,  as  they  were  when  you  first  saw 
them  ?  But  let  me  first  enquire,  if  any  other  person  is  present, 
who  saw  these  remains  before  they  had  been  removed?" 

Several  mea,  and  one  or  two  women,  who  were  in  attendance 
to  be  examined,  now  came  forward,  and  stated  that  they  had 
seen  the  remains  in  the  condition  in  which  they  had  been  origin 
ally  found,  Selecting  the  most  intelligent  of  the  party,  after 
questioning  them  all  round,  the  coroner  desired  that  the  skeletons 
might  be  laid,  as  near  as  might  be,  in  the  same  relative  positions 
as  those  in  which  they  had  been  found.  There  was  a  difference 
of  opinion  among  the  witnesses,  as  to  several  of  the  minor  par 
ticulars,  though  all  admitted  that  the  bodies,  or  what  remained 
of  them,  had  been  found  quite  close  together ;  their  heads  touch 
ing,  and  their  feet  some  little  distance  apart.  In  this  manner, 
then,  were  the  skeletons  now  disposed ;  the  arrangement  being 
completed  just  as  Dr.  McBrain  entered  the  court-room.  The 
coroner  immediately  directed  the  witnesses  to  stand  aside,  while 
the  physician  made  an  examination  of  the  crisped  bones. 


86  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"This  looks  like  foul  play !"  exclaimed  the  doctor,  almost  as 
soon  as  his  examination  commenced.  "  The  skulls  of  both  thes« 
persons  have  been  fractured ;  and,  if  this  be  anything  near  the 
positions  in  which  the  skeletons  were  found,  as  it  would  seem<; 
by  the  same  blow." 

He  then  pointed  out  to  the  coroner  and  jury,  a  small  frac> 
ture  in  the  frontal  bone  of  each  skull,  and  so  nearly  in  a  line  as 
to  render  his  conjecture  highly  probable.  This  discovery  gave 
an  entirely  new  colouring  to  the  whole  occurrence,  and  eyery  one 
present  began  to  speculate  on  the  probability  of  arson  and  murder 
being  connected  with  the  unfortunate  affair.  The  Goodwin? 
were  known  to  have  lived  at  their  ease,  and  the  good  woman,  m 
particular,  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  little  miserly.  As 
everything  like  order  vanished  temporarily  from  the  court-room,, 
and  tongues  were  going  in  all  directions,,  many  things  were 
related  that  were  really  of  a  suspicious  character,  especially  bj 
the  women.  The  coroner  adjourned  the  investigation  for  the 
convenience  of  irregular  conversation,  in  order  to  obtain  useful 
clues  to  the  succeeding  enquiries. 

"  You  say  that  old  Mrs.  G-oodwin  had  a  good  deal  of  specie  ?" 
enquired  that  functionary  of  a  certain  Mrs.  Pope,  a  widow  woman 
who  had  been  free  with  her  communications,  and  who  very  well 
might  know  more  than  the  rest  of  the  neighbours,  from  a  very 
active  propensity  she  had  ever  manifested,  to  look  into  the  affairs 
of  all  around  her.  "  Did  I  understand  you,  that  you  had  seen 
this  money  yourself/' 

"  Yes,  sir;  often  and  often.  She  kept  it  in  a  stocking  of  the 
old  gentleman's,  that  was  nothing  but  darns;  so  darny,  like,  that 
nobody  could  wear  it  Miss  Goodwin  was  n't  a  woman  to  put 
away  anything  that  was  of  use.  A  clusser  body  wasn't  to  be 
found,  anywhere  near  Biberry.'' 

"  And  some  of  this  money  was  gold,  I  think  I  heard  you  say, 
A  stocking  pretty  well  filled  with  gold  and  silver." 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  37 

"  The  foot  was  cramming  full,  when  I  saw  it,  and  that  wasn't 
three  months  since.  I  can't  say  there  was  any  great  matter  in 
the  leg.  Yes,  there  was  gold  in  it,  too.  She  showed  me  the 
stocking  the  last  time  I  saw  it,  on  purpose  to  ask  me  what  might 
be  the  valie  of  a  piece  of  gold  that  was  almost  as  big  as  half 
a-dollar." 

"  Should  you  know  that  piece  of  gold,  were  you  to  see  it, 
again?" 

"  That  I  should.  I  didn't  know  its  name,  or  its  valie,  for  I 
never  seed  so  big  a  piece  afore,  but  I  told  Miss  Goodwin  1 
thought  it  must  be  ra'al  Californy.  Them's  about  now,  they 
tell  me,  and  I  hope  poor  folks  will  come  in  for  their  share.  Old 
as  I  am  —  that  is,  not  so  very  old  neither  —  but  such  as  I  am,  I 
never  had  a  piece  of  gold  in  my  life." 

"  You  cannot  tell,  then,  the  name  of  this  particular  coin?" 
"  I  couldn't ;  if  I  was  to  have  it  for  the  telling,  I  couldn't. 
It  wasn't  a  five  dollar  piece ;  that  I  know,  for  the  old  lady  had 
a  good  many  of  them,  and  this  was  much  larger,  and  yellower, 
too;  bettar  gold,  I  conclude." 

The  coroner  was  accustomed  to  garrulous,  sight-seeing  females, 
and  knew  how  to  humour  them. 

"Where  did  Mrs.  Goodwin  keep  her  specie?"  he  enquired. 
"  If  you  saw  her  put  the  stocking  away,  you  must  know  its  usual 
place  of  deposit." 

"In  her  chest  of  drawers,"  answered  the  woman  eagerly. 
"  That  very  chest  of  drawers  which  was  got  out  of  the  house,  as 
sound  as  the  day  it  went  into  it,  and  has  been  brought  down  into 
the  village  for  safe  keeping." 

All  this  was  so,  and  measures  were  taken  to  push  the  investi 
gation  further,  and  in  that  direction.  Three  or  four  young  men, 
willing  volunteers  in  such  a  cause,  brought  the  bureau  into  the 
court-room,  and  the  coroner  directed  that  each  of  the  drawers 
should  be  publicly  opened,  in  the  presence  of  the  jurors.  The 


38  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

widow  was  first  sworn,  however,  and  testified  regularly  to  the 
matter  of  the  stocking,  the  money,  and  the  place  of  usual  deposit. 

"Ah!  you  '11  not  find  it  there/'  observed  Mrs.  Pope,  as  the 
village  cabinet-maker  applied  a  key,  the  wards  of  which  happened 
to  fit  those  of  the  locks  in  question,  "  She  kept  her  money  in 
the  lowest  draw  of  all,  I  've  seen  her  take  the  stocking  out, 
first  and  last,  at  least  a  dozen  times." 

The  lower  draw  was  opened,  accordingly.  It  contained  female 
apparel,  and  a  goodly  store  of  such  articles  as  were  suited  to  the 
wants  of  a  respectable  woman  in  the  fourth  or  fifth  of  the  grada 
tions  into  which  all  society  so  naturally,  and  unavoidably,  divides 
itself.  But  there  was  no  stocking  full  of  darns,  no  silver,  no 
gold.  Mrs.  Pope's  busy  and  nimble  fingers  were  thrust  hastily 
into  an  inner  corner  of  the  drawer,  and  a  silk  dress  was  uncere 
moniously  opened,  that  having  been  the  precise  receptacle  of  the 
treasure  as  she  had  seen  it  last  bestowed. 

{t  It 's  gone  I"  exclaimed  the  woman.  t(  Somebody  must  have 
taken  it!" 

A  great  deal  was  now  thought  to  be  established.  The  broken 
skulls,  and  the  missing  money,  went  near  to  establish  a  case  of 
murder  and  robbery,  in  addition  to  the  high  crime  of  arson. 
Men,  who  had  worn  solemn  and  grave  countenances  all  that 
morning,  now  looked  excited  and  earnest.  The  desire  for  a 
requiting  justice  was  general  and  active,  and  the  dead  became 
doubly  dear,  by  means  of  their  wrongs. 

All  this  time  Dr.  McBrain  had  been  attending,  exclusively,  .to 
the  part  of  the  subject  that  most  referred  to  his  own  profession. 
Of  the  fractures  in  the  two  skulls,  he  was  well  assured,  though 
the  appearance  of  the  remains  was  such  as  almost  to  baffle  inves 
tigation.  Of  another  important  fact  he  was  less  certain.  While 
all  he  heard  prepared  him  to  meet  with  the  skeletons  of  a  man 
and  his  wife,  so  far  as  he  could  judge,  in  the  imperfect  state  in 
which  they  were  laid  before  him,  the  bones  were  those  of  two 
females. 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  39 

"Did  you  know  this  Mr.  Goodwin,  Mr.  Coroner?"  enquired 
fche  physician,  breaking  into  the  more  regular  examination  with 
very  little  ceremony ;  "  or  was  he  well  known  to  any  here  ?" 

The  coroner  had  no  very  accurate  knowledge  of  the  deceased, 
though  every  one  of  the  jurors  had  been  well  acquainted  with 
him.  Several  had  known  him  all  their  lives. 

"Was  he  a  man  of  ordinary  size ?"  asked  the  doctor. 

"Very  small.  Not  taller  than  his  wife,  who  might  be  set 
down  as  quite  a  tall  old  lady/' 

It  often  happens  in  Europe,  especially  in  England,  that  the 
man  and  his  wife  are  so  nearly  of  a  height  as  to  leave  very  little 
sensible  difference  in  their  statures ;  but  it  is  a  rare  occurrence 
in  this  country.  In  America,  the  female  is  usually  delicate,  and 
of  a  comparatively  small  frame,  while  the  average  height  of  man 
is  something  beyond  that  of  the  European  standard.  It  was  a 
little  out  of  the  common  way,  therefore,  to  meet  with  a  couple 
BO  nearly  of  a  size,  as  these  remains  would  make  Goodwin  and 
his  wife  to  have  been. 

"  These  skeletons  are  very  nearly  of  the  same  length/'  re 
sumed  the  doctor,  after  measuring  them  for  the  fifth  time.  "  The 
man  could  not  have  been  much,  if  any,  taller  than  his  wife." 

"He  was  not,"  answered  a  juror.  "Old  Peter  Goodwin 
could  not  have  been  more  than  five  feet  five,  and  Dorothy  was  all 
of  that,  I  should  think.  When  they  came  to  meeting  together, 
they  looked  much  of  a  muchness." 

Now,  there  is  nothing  on  which  a  prudent  and  regular  phy 
sician  is  more  cautious  than  in  committing  himself  on  unknown 
and  uncertain  ground.  He  has  his  theories,  and  his  standard 
of  opinions,  usually  well  settled  in  his  mind,  and  he  is  ever  on 
the  alert  to  protect  and  bolster  them ;  seldom  making  any  ad 
mission  that  may  contravene  either.  He  is  apt  to  denounce  the 
water  cure,  however  surprising  may  have  been  its  effects  j  and 
there  is  commonly  but  one  of  the  "opathies"  to  which  he  is  in 


40  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

the  least  disposed  to  defer,  and  that  is  the  particular  "  opathy" 
on  which  he  has  moulded  his  practice.  As  for  Dr.  McBrain,  he 
belonged  strictly  to  the  alapathic  school,  and  might  be  termed 
almost  an  ultra  in  his  adherence  to  its  laws,  while  the  number 
of  the  new  schools  that  were  springing  up  around  him,  taught 
him  caution,  as  well  as  great  prudence,  in  the  expression  of  his 
opinions.  Give  him  a  patient,  and  he  went  to  work  boldly,  and 
with  the  decision  and  nerve  of  a  physician  accustomed  to  practise 
in  an  exaggerated  climate ;  but  place  him  before  the  public,  as  a 
theoretical  man,  and  he  was  timid  and  wary.  His  friend  Duns- 
comb  had  observed  this  peculiarity,  thirty  years  before  the  com 
mencement  of  our  tale,  and  had  quite  recently  told  him,  "  You 
are  bold  in  the  only  thing  in  which  I  am  timid,  Ned,  and  that 
is  in  making  up  to  the  women.  If  Mrs.  Updyke  were  a  new 
fangled  theory,  now,  instead  of  an  old-fashioned  widow,  as  she 
is,  hang  me  if  I  think  you  would  have  ever  had  the  spirit  to 
propose. "  This  peculiarity  of  temperament,  and,  perhaps,  we 
might  add  of  character,  rendered  Dr.  McBrain,  now,  very  averse 
to  saying,  in  the  face  of  so  much  probability,  and  the  statements 
of  so  many  witnesses,  that  the  mutilated  and  charred  skeletons 
that  lay  on  the  court-house  table  were  those  of  two  females,  and 
not  those  of  a  man  and  his  wife.  It  was  certainly  possible  he 
might  be  mistaken ;  for  the  conflagration  had  made  sad  work  of 
these  poor  emblems  of  mortality;  but  science  has  a  clear  eye, 
and  the  doctor  was  a  skilful  and  practised  anatomist.  In  his 
own  mind,  there  were  very  few  doubts  on  the  subject. 

As  soon  as  the  thoughtful  physician  found  time  to  turn  his 
attention  on  the  countenances  of  those  who  composed  the  crowd 
in  the  court-room,  he  observed  that  nearly  all  eyes  were  bent  on 
the  person  of  one  particular  female,  who  sat  apart,  and  was 
seemingly  labouring  under  a  shock  of  some  sort  or  other,  that 
materially  affected  her  nerves.  McBrain  saw,  at  a  glance,  that 
this  person  belonged  to  a  class  every  way  superior  to  "that  of 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  41 

even  the  highest  of  those  who  pressed  around  the  table.  The 
face  was  concealed  in  a  handkerchief,  but  the  form  was  not  only 
youthful  but  highly  attractive.  Small,  delicate  hands  and  feet 
could  be  seen ;  such  hands  and  feet  as  we  are  all  accustomed  to 
see  in  an  American  girl,  who  has  been  delicately  brought  up. 
Her  dress  was  simple,  and  of  studied  modesty;  but  there  was 
an  air  about  that,  which  a  little  surprised  the  kind-hearted  indi 
vidual,  who  was  now  so  closely  observing  her. 

The  doctor  had  little  difficulty  in  learning  from  those  near 
him  that  this  "young  woman/'  so  all  in  the  crowd  styled  her, 
though  it  was  their  practice  to  term  most  girls,  however  humble 
their  condition,  "ladies/'  had  been  residing  with  the  Goodwins 
for  a  few  weeks,  in  the  character  of  a  boarder,  as  some  asserted, 
while  others  affirmed  it  was  as  a  friend.  At  all  events,  there 
was  a  mystery  about  her ;  and  most  of  the  girls  of  Biberry  had 
called  her  proud,  because  she  did  not  join  in  their  frivolities, 
flirtations  and  visits.  It  was  true,  no  one  had  ever  thought  of 
discharging  the  duties  of  social  life  by  calling  on  her,  or  in 
making  the  advances  usual  to  well-bred  people ;  but  this  makes 
little  difference  where  there  is  a  secret  consciousness  of  inferiority, 
and  of  an  inferiority  that  is  felt,  while  it  is  denied.  Such  things 
are  of  every-day  occurrence,  in  country-life  in  particular,  while 
American  town-life  is  far  from  being  exempt  from  the  weakness. 
In  older  countries,  the  laws  of  society  are  better  respected. 

It  was  now  plain  that  the  blight  of  suspicion  had  fallen  on 
this  unknown,  and  seemingly  friendless  girl.  If  the  fire  had 
been  communicated  intentionally,  who  so  likely  to  be  guilty  as 
she  ?  if  the  money  was  gone,  who  had  so  many  means  of  securing 
it  as  herself?  These  were  questions  that  passed  from  one  to 
another,  until  distrust  gathered  so  much  head,  that  the  coroner 
deemed  it  expedient  to  adjourn  the  inquest,  while  the  proof 
might  be  collected,  and  offered  in  proper  form. 

Dr.  McBrain  was,  by  nature,  kind-hearted ;  then  he  could  not 


42  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 


• 


easily  get  over  that  stubborn  scientific  fact,  of  both  the  skeletons 
having  belonged  to  females.  It  is  true  that,  admitting  thi#  to 
be  the  case,  it  threw  very  little  light  on  the  matter,  and  in  no 
degree  lessened  any  grounds  of  suspicion  that  might  properly 
rest  on  the  "young  woman' ';  but  it  separated  him  from  the 
throng,  and  placed  his  mind  in  a  sort  of  middle  condition,  in 
which  he  fancied  it  might  be  prudent,  as  well  as  charitable,  to 
doubt.  Perceiving  that  the  crowd  was  dispersing,  though  not 
without  much  animated  discussion  in  under  tones,  and  that  the 
subject  of  all  this  conversation  still  remained  in  her  solitary 
corner,  apparently  unconscious  of  what  was  going  on,  the  worthy 
doctor  approached  the  immovable  figure,  and  spoke. 

"  You  have  come  here  as  a  witness,  I  presume/ '  he  said,  in  a 
gentle  tone ;  "  if  so,  your  attendance  just  now  will  no  longer  be 
necessary,  the  coroner  having  adjourned  the  inquest  until  to 
morrow  afternoon. " 

At  the  first  sound  of  his  voice,  the  solitary  female  removed  a 
fine  cambric  handkerchief  from  her  face,  and  permitted  her  new 
companion  to  look  upon  it  We  shall  say  nothing,  here,  touch 
ing  that  countenance  or  any  other  personal  peculiarity,  as  a  suffi 
ciently  minute  description  will  be  given  in  the  next  chapter, 
through  the  communications  made  by  Dr.  McBrain  to  Duns- 
comb.  Thanking  her  informant  for  his  information,  and  ex 
changing  a  few  brief  sentences  on  the  melancholy  business  which 
had  brought  both  there,  the  young  woman  arose,  made  a  slight 
but  very  graceful  inclination  of  her  body,  and  withdrew. 

Dr.  McBrain's  purpose  was  made  up  on  the  spot.  He  saw 
very  plainly  that  a  fierce  current  of  suspicion  was  setting  against 
this  pleasing,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  friendless  young  creature ; 
and  he  determined  at  once  to  hasten  back  to  town,  and  get  his 
friend  to  go  out  to  Biberry,  without  a  moment's  delay,  that  he 
might  appear  there  that  very  afternoon  in  the  character  of 
counsel  to  the  helpless. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

**  I  am  informed  thoroughly  of  the  cause. 
Which  is  the  merchant  here,  and  which  the  Jew  ?" 

Merchant  of  Venice. 

Seen  was  the  substance  of  the  communication  that  Doctor 
McBrain  now  made  to  his  friend,  Tom  Dunscomb.  The  latter 
had  listened  with  an  interest  he  did  not  care  to  betray,  and  when 
the  other  was  done  he  gaily  cried — 

"  I  '11  tell  the  widow  Updyke  of  you,  Ned !" 

"  She  knows  the  whole  story  already,  and  is  very  anxious  lest 
you  should  have  left  town,  to  go  to  the  Rockland  circuit,  where 
she  has  been  told  you  have  an  important  case  to  try." 

"The  cause  goes  over  on  account  of  the  opposite  counsel's 
being  in  the  court  of  appeals.  Ah/s  me !  I  have  no  pleasure  in 
managing  a  cause  since  this  Code  of  Procedure  has  innovated  on 
all  our  comfortable  and  venerable  modes  of  doing  business.  I 
believe  I  shall  close  up  my  affairs,  and  retire,  as  soon  as  I  can 
bring  all  my  old  cases  to  a  termination." 

"  If  you  can  bring  those  old  cases  to  a  termination,  you  will 
be  the  first  lawyer  who  ever  did." 

"Yes,  it  is  true,  Ned,"  answered  Dunscomb,  coolly  taking  a 
pinch  of  snuff,  "  you  doctors  have  the  advantage  of  us,  in  this 
behalf;  your  cases  certainly  do  not  last  for  ever." 

"Enough  of  this,  Tom  —  you  will  go  to  Biberry,  I  take  it  for 
granted?" 

'43) 


44  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  You  have  forgotten  the  fee.  Under  the  new  code,  compen* 
sation  is  a  matter  of  previous  agreement." 

"  You  shall  have  a  pleasant  excursion,  over  good  roads,  in  the 
month  of  May,  in  an  easy  carriage,  and  drawn  by  a  pair  of  as 
spirited  horses  as  ever  trotted  on  the  Third  Avenue." 

"  The  .animals  you  have  just  purchased  in  honour  of  Mrs. 
Updyke  that  is  —  Mrs.  McBrain  that  is  to  be — "  touching  the 
bell,  and  adding  to  the  very  respectable  black  who  immediately 
answered  the  summons,  "  Tell  Master  Jack  and  Miss  Sarah  I 
wish  to  see  them.  So,  Ned,  you  have  let  the  widow  know  all 
about  it,  and  she  does  not  pout  or  look  distrustful  —  that  is  a 
good  symptom,  at  least." 

"  I  would  not  marry  a  jealous  woman,  if  I  never  had  a  wife  !" 

"  Then  you  will  never  marry  at  all.  Why,  Dr.  McBrain,  it 
is  in  the  nature  of  woman  to  be  distrustful  —  to  be  jealous  —  to 
fancy  things  that  are  merely  figments  of  the  brain." 

"  You  know  nothing  about  them,  and  would  be  wisest  to  be 
silent — but  here  are  the  young  people  already,  to  ask  your 
pleasure." 

"Sarah,  my  dear,"  resumed  the  uncle  in  a  kind  and  affec 
tionate  tone  of  voice,  one  that  the  old  bachelor  almost  univer 
sally  held  towards  that  particular  relative,  "  I  must  give  you  a 
little  trouble,  do  into  my  room,  child,  and  put  up,  in  my  small 
est  travelling  bag,  a  clean  shirt,  a  handkerchief  or  two,  three  or 
four  collars,  and  a  change  all  round,  for  a  short  expedition  into 
the  country." 

"  Country !     Do  you  quit  us  to-day,  sir  ?" 

"  Within  an  hour,  at  latest,"  looking  at  his  watch.  "If  we 
leave  the  door  at  ten,  we  can  reach  Biberry  before  the  inquest 
reassembles.  You  told  those  capital  beasts  of  yours,  Ned,  to 
come  here?" 

"  I  told  Stephen  to  give  them  a  hint  to  that  effect.  You  may 
rely  on  their  punctuality." 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  45 

"  Jack,  you  had  better  be  of  our  party.  I  go  on  some  legal 
business  of  importance,  and  it  may  be  well  for  you  to  go  along, 
in  order  to  pick  up  an  idea,  or  two." 

"And  why  not  Michael  also,  sir  ?  He  has  as  much  need  of 
ideas  as  I  have  myself/' 

A  pretty  general  laugh  succeeded,  though  Sarah,  who  was  just 
quitting  the  room,  did  not  join  in  it.  She  rather  looked  grave, 
as  well  as  a  little  anxiously  towards  the  last-named  neophyte  of 
the  law. 

"  Shall  we  want  any  books,  sir  ?"  demanded  the  nephew. 

"Why,  yes  —  we  will  take  the  Code  of  Procedure.  One  can 
no  more  move  without  that,  just  now,  than  he  can  travel  in  some 
countries  without  a  passport.  Yes,  put  up  the  code,  Jack,  and 
we  '11  pick  it  to  pieces  as  we  trot  along." 

"  There  is  little  need  of  that,  sir,  if  what  they  say  be  true.  I 
hear,^from  all  quarters,  that  it  is  doing  that  for  itself,  on  a 
gallop." 

"  Shame  on  thee,  lad  —  I  have  half  a  mind  to  banish  thee  to 
Philadelphia!  But  put  up  the  code;  thy  joke  can't  be  worse 
than  that  joke.  As  for  Michael,  he  can  accompany  us  if  he 
wish  it ;  but  you  must  both  be  ready  by  ten.  At  ten,  precisely, 
we  quit  my  door,  in  the  chariot  of  Phoebus,  eh,  Ned?" 

"  Call  it  what  you  please,  so  you  do  but  go.  Be  active,  young 
gentlemen,  for  we  have  no  time  to  throw  away.  The  jury  meet 
again  at  two,  and  we  have  several  hours  of  road  before  us.  1 
will  run  round  and  look  at  my  slate,  and  be  here  by  the  time 
you  are  ready. 

On  this  suggestion  everybody  was  set  in  active  motion.  John 
went  for  his  books,  and  to  fill  a  small  rubber  bag  for  himself ; 
Michael  did  the  same,  and  Sarah  was  busy  in  her  uncle's  room. 
As  for  Dunscomb,  he  made  the  necessary  disposition  of  some 
papers,  wrote  two  or  three  notes,  and  held  himself  at  the  com 
mand  of  his  friend.  This  affair  was  just  the  sort  of  professional 


46  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

business  in  which  he  liked  to  be  engaged.  Not  that  he  had  any 
sympathy  with  crime,  for  he  was  strongly  averse  to  all  commu 
nion  with  rogues ;  but  it  appeared  to  him;  by  the  representations 
of  the  doctor,  to  be  a  mission  of  mercy.  A  solitary,  young,  un 
friended  female,  accused,  or  suspected,  of  a  most  heinous  crime, 
and  looking  around  for  a  protector  and  an  adviser,  was  an  object 
too  interesting  for  a  man  of  his  temperament  to  overlook,  under 
the  appeal  that  had  been  made.  Still  he  was  not  the  dupe  of  his 
feelings.  All  his  coolness,  sagacity,  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  professional  attainments,  were  just  as  active  in  him  as  they 
ever  had  been  in  his  life.  Two  things  he  understood  well :  that 
we  are  much  too  often  deceived  by  outward  signs,  mistaking 
character  by  means  of  a  fair  exterior,  and  studied  words,  and 
that  neither  youth,  beauty,  sex,  nor  personal  graces  were  infalli 
ble  preventives  of  the  worst  offences,  on  the  one  hand ;  and  that, 
on  the  other,  men  nurture  distrust,  and  suspicion,  often,  until  it 
grows  too  large  to  be  concealed,  by  means  of  their  own  propensity 
to  feed  the  imagination  and  to  exaggerate.  Against  these  two 
weaknesses  he  was  now  resolved  to  arm  himself;  and  when  the 
whole  party  drove  from  the  door,  our  counsellor  was  as  clear 
headed  and  impartial,  according  to  his  own  notion  of  the  matter, 
as  if  he  were  a  judge. 

By  this  time  the  young  men  had  obtained  a  general  notion  of 
the  business  they  were  on,  and  the  very  first  subject  that  was 
gtarted,  on  quitting  the  door,  was  in  a  question  put  by  John 
Wilmeter,  in  continuation  of  a  discussion  that  had  been  com 
menced  between  himself  and  his  friend. 

"  Mike  and  I  have  a  little  difference  of  opinion,  on  a  point 
connected  with  this  matter,  which  I  could  wish  you  to  settle  for 
us,  as  an  arbiter.  On  the  supposition  that  you  find  reason  to 
believe  that  this  young  woman  has  really  committed  these  hor 
rible  crimes,  what  would  be  your  duty  in  the  case  —  to  continue 
to  befriend  her,  and  advise  her,  and  use  your  experience  and 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  47 

talents  in  order  to  shield  her  against  the  penalties  of  the  law,  oy 
to  abandon  her  at  once?" 

"  In  plain  English,  Jack,  you  and  your  brother  student  wish 
to  know  whether  I  am  to  act  as  a  palladium,  or  as  a  runagate,  in 
this  affair.  As  neophytes  in  your  craft,  it  may  be  well  to  sug 
gest  to  you,  in  the  first  place,  that  I  have  not  yet  been  fee'd.  1 
never  knew  a  lawyer's  conscience  trouble  him  about  questions  in 
casuistry,  until  he  had  received  something  down." 

"  But  you  can  suppose  that  something  paid,  in  this  case,  sir, 
and  then  answer  our  question." 

"  This  is  just  the  case  in  which  I  can  suppose  nothing  of  the 
sort.  Had  McBrain  given  me  to  understand  I  was  to  meet  a 
client,  with  a  well-lined  purse,  who  was  accused  of  arson  and 
murder,  I  would  have  seen  him  married  to  two  women,  at  the 
same  time,  before  I  would  have  budged.  It's  the  want  of  a  fee 
that  takes  me  out  of  town,  this  morning." 

a  And  the  same  want,  I  £rust,  sir,  will  stimulate  you  to  solve 
our  difficulty." 

The  uncle  laughed,  and  nodded  his  head,  much  as  if  he  would 
say,  "  Pretty  well  for  you  ;"  then  he  gave  a  thought  to  the  point 
in  professional  ethics  that  had  started  up  between  his  two 
students. 

"  This  is  a  very  old  question  with  the  profession,  gentlemen/' 
Dunscomb  answered,  a  little  more  gravely.  "You  will  find 
men  who  maintain  that  the  lawyer  has,  morally,  a  right  to  do 
whatever  his  client  would  do ;  that  he  puts  himself  in  the  place 
of  the  man  he  defends,  and  is  expected  to  do  everything  pre 
cisely  as  if  he  were  the  accused  party  himself.  I  rather  think 
that  some  vague  notion,  quite  as  loose  as  this,  prevails  pretty 
generally  among  what  one  may  call  the  minor  moralists  of  the 
profession." 

"I  confess,  sir,  that  I  have  been  given  to  understand  that 
some  such  rule  ought  to  govern  our  conduct/'  said  Michael  Mil- 


48  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

lington,  who  had  been  in  DunscomVs  office  only  for  the  last  six 
months. 

"  Then  you  have  been  very  loosely  and  badly  instructed  in  the 
duties  of  an  advocate,  Mr.  Michael.  A  more  pernicious  doctrine 
was  never  broached,  or  one  better  suited  to  make  men  scoundrels, 
Let  a  young  man  begin  practice  with  such  notions,  and  two  or 
three  thieves  for  clients  will  prepare  him  to  commit  petit  larceny, 
and  a  case  or  two  of  perjury  would  render  him  an  exquisite  at 
an  affidavit.  No,  my  boys,  here  is  your  rule  in  this  matter: 
an  advocate  has  a  right  to  do  whatever  his  client  has  a  right  to 
do  —  not  what  his  client  would  do." 

"  Surely,  sir,  an  advocate  is  justified  in  telling  his  client  to 
plead  not  guilty,  though  guilty ;  and  in  aiding  him  to  persuade 
a  jury  to  acquit  him,  though  satisfied  himself  he  ought  to  be 
convicted!" 

"  You  have  got  hold  of  the  great  point  in  the  case,  Jack,  and 
one  on  which  something  may  be  sa$  on  both  sides.  The  law  is 
jo  indulgent,  as  to  permit  an  accused  who  has  formally  pleaded 
( guilty/  thus  making  a  distinct  admission  of  his  crime,  to  with 
draw  that  plea,  and  put  in  another  of  'not  guilty/  Now,  had 
fie  same  person  made  a  similar  admission  out  of  court,  and  under 
ircumstances  that  put  threats  or  promises  out  of  the  question, 
the  law  would  have  accepted  that  admission  as  the  best  possible 
evidence  of  his  guilt.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  an  under 
standing  exists,  to  which  the  justice  of  the  country  is  a  party, 
that  a  man,  though  guilty,  shall  get  himself  out  of  the  scrape,  if 
he  can  do  so  by  legal  means.  No  more  importance  is  attached 
to  the  '  not  guilty/  than  to  the  l  not  at  home'  to  a  visitor ;  it 
being  understood,  by  general  convention,  that  neither  means  any 
thing.  Some  persons  are  so  squeamish,  as  to  cause  their  ser 
vants  to  say  'they  are  engaged/  by  way  of  not  telling  a  lie; 
but  a  lie  consists  in  the  intentional  deception,  and  '  not  in*  and 
'  not  guilty'  mean  no  more,  in  the  one  case,  than  *  you  can't  eeo 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  49 

my  master/  and  in  the  other,  than  '  I  '11  run  the  chances  of  a 
trial/  " 

"  After  all,  sir,  this  is  going  pretty  near  the  wind,  in  the  way 
of  morals." 

"  It  certainly  is.  -The  Christian  man  who  has  committed  a 
crime,  ought  not  to  attempt  to  deny  it  to  his  country,  as  he  cer 
tainly  cannot  to  his  God.  Yet,  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
in  a  thousand  of  the  most  strait-laced  Christians  in  the  com- 
munity  would  so  deny  their  guilt,  if  arraigned.  "VVe  must  not 
tax  poor  human  nature  too  heavily,  though  I  think  the  common 
law  contains  many  things,  originating  in  a  jealousy  of  hereditary 
power,  that  it  is  great  folly  for  us  to  preserve.  But,  while  we 
are  thus  settling  principles,  we  forget  facts.  You  have  told  me 
nothing  of  your  client,  Ned." 

"  What  would  you  wish  to  know  ?" 

"  You  called  her  young,  I  remember ;  what  may  be  her  pre 
cise  age  ?" 

"  That  is  more  than  I  know ;  somewhere  between  sixteen  and 
five-and-twenty." 

"  Five-and-twenty !     Is  she  as  old  as  that  ?" 

"  I  rather  think  not ;  but  I  have  been  thinking  much  of  her 
this  morning,  and  I  really  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  another 
human  being  who  is  so  difficult  to  describe." 

"  She  has  eyes,  of  course  ?" 

"  Two — and  very  expressive  they  are ;  though,  sworn,  I  could 
not  tell  their  colour." 

"And  hair?" 

"  In  very  great  profusion ;  so  much  of  it,  and  so  very  fine  and 
shining,  that  it  was  the  first  thing  about  her  person  which  I  ob 
served.  But  I  have  not  the  least  notion  of  its  colour/' 

"Was  it  red?" 

"  No ;  nor  yellow,  nor  golden,  nor  black,  nor  brown, — and  yet 
a  little  of  all  blended  together,  I  should  say." 

R 


50  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  Ned,  I  '11  tell  the  Widow  Updyke  of  thee,  thou  rogue  !" 

"  Tell  her,  and  welcome.  She  has  asked  me  all  these  questions 
herself,  this  very  morning." 

"  Oh,  she  has,  has  she  ?  Umph  !  Woman  never  changes  her 
nature.  You  cannot  say  anything  about  the  eyes,  Ibeyond  the 
fact  of  their  being  very  expressive  ?" 

"  And  pleasing ;  more  than  that,  even— engaging ;  winning,  is 
a  better  term." 

"  Ned,  you  dog,  you  have  never  told  the  widow  one-half !" 

"Every  syllable.  I  even  went  farther,  and  declared  I  had 
never  beheld  a  countenance  that,  in  so  short  an  interview,  made 
so  deep  an  impression  on  me.  If  I  were  not  to  see  this  young 
woman  again,  I  should  never  forget  the  expression  of  her  face — 
so  spirited,  so  sad,  so  gentle,  so  feminine,  and  so  very  intelligent,, 
It  seemed  to  me  to  be  what  I  should  call  an  illuminated  coun 
tenance/' 

"  Handsome  ?" 

"  Not  unusually  so,  among  our  sweet  American  girls,  except 
through  the  expression.  That  was  really  wonderful;  though, 
you  will  remember,  I  saw  her  under  very  peculiar  circum 
stances." 

"  Oh,  exceedingly  peculiar.  Dear  old  soul ;  what  a  thump  she 
has  given  him  !  How  were  her  mouth  and  her  teeth  ?  —  com 
plexion,  stature,  figure,  and  smile  ?" 

"  I  can  tell  you  little  of  all  these.  Her  teeth  are  fine ;  for  she 
gave  me  a  faint  smile,  such  as  a  lady  is  apt  to  give  a  man  in 
quitting  him,  and  I  saw  just  enough  of  the  teeth  to  know  that 
they  are  exceedingly  fine.  You  smile,  young  gentlemen ;  but  you 
may  have  a  care  for  your  hearts,  in  good  truth ;  for  if  this  strange 
girl  interests  either  of  you  one-half  as  much  as  she  has  interested 
me,  she  will  be  either  Mrs.  John  Wilmeter,  or  Mrs,  Michael 
Millmgton,  within  a  twelvemonth." 

Michael  looked  very  sure  that  she  Would  never  fill  the  las* 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  51 

.  -,    ~W 
situation,  which  was  already  bespoke  for  Miss  Sarah  Wilmeter ; 

and  as  for  Jack,  he  laughed  outright. 

"  We  '11  tell  Mrs.  Updyke  of  him,  when  we  get  back,  and  break 
off  that  affair,  at  least,"  cried  the  uncle,  winking  at  the  nephew, 
but  in  a  way  his  friend  should  see  him ;  "  then  there  will  be  one 
marriage  the  less  in  the  world." 

"  But  is  she  a  lady,  doctor  ?"  demanded  John,  after  a  short 
pause.  "  My  wife  must  have  some  trifling  claims  in  that  way,  I 
can  assure  you." 

"As  for  family,  education,  association  and  fortune,  I  can  say 
nothing,  —  I  know  nothing.  Yet  will  I  take  upon  myself  to 
say  she  is  a  lady,  —  and  that,  in  the  strict  signification  of  the 
term." 

"  You  are  not  serious  now,  Ned !"  exclaimed  the  counsellor, 
quickly.  "  Not  a  bony  fide,  as  some  of  our  gentlemen  have  it  ? 
You  cannot  mean  exactly  what  you  say." 

"I  do,  though;  and  that  literally." 

"  And  she  suspected  of  arson  and  murder !  Where  are  her 
connections  and  friends,  —  those  who  made  her  a  lady  ?  Why 
is  she  there  alone,  and,  as  you  say,  unfriended  ?" 

"  So  it  seemed  to  me.  You  might  as  well  ask  me  why  she 
is  there,  at  all.  I  know  nothing  of  all  this.  I  heard  plenty 
of  reasons  in  the  street,  why  she  ought  to  be  distrusted,  —  nay, 
convicted  j  for  the  feeling  against  her  had  got  to  be  intense,  be 
fore  I  left  Biberry ;  but  no  one  could  tell  me  whence  she  came, 
or  why  she  was  there." 

"  Did  you  learn  her  name  ?" 

"  Yes ;  that  was  in  every  mouth,  and  I  could  not  help  hearing 
it.  She  was  called  Mary  Monson  by  the  people  of  Biberry — 
but  I  much  doubt  if  that  be  her  real  name." 

"  So,  your  angel  in  disguise  will  have  to  be  tried  under  an 
( alias !'  That  is  not  much  in  her  favour,  Ned.  I  shall  ask  no 
more  questions,  but  wait  patiently  to  see  and  judge  for  myself." 


52  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

The  young  men  put  a  few  more  interrogatories,  which  wera 
civilly  answered,  and  then  the  subject  was  dropped.  Well  it  has 
been  said  that  "Grod  made  the  country;  man  made  the  town/' 
No  one  feels  this  more  than  he  who  has  been  shut  up  between 
walls  of  brick  and  stone  for  many  months,  on  his  first  escape  into 
the  open,  unfettered  fields  and  winding  pleasant  roads.  Thus 
was  it  now  with  Dunscomb.  He  had  not  been  out  of  town 
since  the  previous  summer,  and  great  was  his  delight  at  smelling 
the  fragrance  of  the  orchards,  and  feasting  his  eyes  on  their 
beauties.  All  the  other  charms  of  the  season  came  in  aid  of 
these,  and  when  the  carriage  drove  into  the  long,  broad,  and  we 
might  almost  say  single  street  of  Biberry,  Dunscomb  in  particu 
lar  was  in  a  most  tranquil  and  pleasant  state  of  mind.  He  had 
come  out  to  assist  a  friendless  woman,  cheerfully  and  without  a 
thought  of  the  sacrifice,  either  as  to  time  or  money,  though  in 
reflecting  on  all  the  circumstances  he  began  to  have  his  doubts 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  step  he  had  taken.  Nevertheless,  he  pre 
served  his  native  calmness  of  manner,  and  coolness  of  head. 

Biberry  was  found  to  be  in  a  state  of  high  excitement.  There 
were  at  least  a  dozen  physicians  collected  there,  all  from  the 
county,  and  five  or  six  reporters  had  come  from  town.  Rumours 
of  all  sorts  were  afloat,  and  Mary  Monson  was  a  name  in  every 
person's  mouth.  She  had  not  been  arrested,  however,  it  having 
been  deemed  premature  for  that ;  but  she  was  vigilantly  watched, 
and  two  large  trunks  of  which  she  was  the  mistress,  as  well  as 
an  oilskin-covered  box  of  some  size,  if  not  absolutely  seized,  were 
so  placed  that  their  owner  had  no  access  to  them.  This  state  of 
things,  however,  did  not  seem  to  give  the  suspected  girl  any 
uneasiness;  she  was  content  with  what  a  carpet-bag  contained, 
and  with  which  she  said  she  was  comfortable.  It  was  a  question 
with  the  wiseacres  whether  she  knew  that  she  was  suspected  or 
not. 

Had  Punscomb  yielded  to  McBrain's  solicitations,  he  would 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  53 

have  gone  at  once  to  the  house  in  which  Mary  Monson  was  now 
lodged,  but  he  preferred  adopting  a  different  course.  He  thought 
it  the  most  prudent  to  be  a  looker-on,  until  after  the  next  exami 
nation,  which  was  now  close  at  hand.  Wary  by  long  habit,  and 
cool  by  temperament,  he  was  disposed  to  observe  the  state  of 
things  before  he  committed  himself.  The  presence  of  the  re 
porters  annoyed  him ;  not  that  he  stood  in  any  dread  of  the  low 
tyranny  that  is  so  apt  to  characterize  this  class  of  men,  for  no 
member  of  the  bar  had  held  them,  and  the  puny  efforts  of  many 
among  them  to  build  up  and  take  away  professional  character,  in 
greater  contempt  than  he  had  done ;  but  he  disliked  to  have  his 
name  mixed  up  with  a  cause  of  this  magnitude,  unless  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  go  through  with  it.  In  this  temper,  then, 
no  communication  was  held  with  Mary  Monson,  until  they  met, 
at  the  hour  appointed  for  the  inquest,  in  the  court-house. 

The  room  was  crowded,  at  least  twice  as  many  having  collected 
on  this  occasion  as  had  got  together  on  the  sudden  call  of  the 
previous  examination.  Dunscomb  observed  that  the  coroner 
looked  grave,  like  a  man  who  felt  he  had  important  business  on 
his  hands,  while  a  stern  expectation  was  the  expression  common 
to  nearly  all  the  others  present.  He  was  an  utter  stranger,  him 
self,  even  by  sight,  to  every  being  present,  his  own  party  and 
two  or  three  of  the  reporters  excepted.  These  last  no  sooner 
observed  him,  however,  than  out  came  their  little  note-books,  and 
the  gold  pens  were  at  work,  scribbling  something.  It  was  pro 
bably  a  sentence  to  say,  "  we  observed  among  the  crowd  Thomas 
Dunscomb,  Esquire,  the  well-known  counsel  from  the  city ;"  but 
Dunscomb  cared  very  little  for  such  vulgarisms,  and  continued 
passive. 

As  soon  as  the  inquest  was  organized,  the  coroner  directed  i 
physician  of  the  neighbourhood  to  be  put  on  the  stand.  It  had 
gone  forth  that  a  "  city  doctor"  had  intimated  that  neither  of  the 
skeletons  was  that  of  Peter  Goodwin,  and  there  was  a  common 


54  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

wish  to  confront  him  with  a  high  country  authority.  It  was 
while  the  medical  man  now  in  request  was  sent  for,  that  McBrain 
pointed  out  to  Dunscomb  the  person  of  Mary  Monson.  She  sat 
in  a  corner  different  from  that  she  had  occupied  the  day  before, 
seemingly  for  the  same  purpose,  or  that  of  being  alone.  Alone 
ghe  was  not,  strictly,  however;  a  respectable-looking  female,  of 
middle  age,  being  at  her  side.  This  was  a  Mrs.  Jones,  the  wife 
of  a  clergyman,  who  had  charitably  offered  the  suspected  young 
stranger  a  home  under  her  own  roof,  pending  the  investigation. 
It  was  thought,  generally,  that  Mary  Monson  had  but  very  vague 
notions  of  the  distrust  that  rested  on  her,  it  being  a  part  of  the 
plan  of  those  who  were  exercising  all  their  wits  to  detect  the 
criminal,  that  she  was  first  to  learn  this  fact  in  open  court,  and 
under  circumstances  likely  to  elicit  some  proofs  of  guilt.  When 
Dunscomb  learned  this  artifice,  he  saw  how  ungenerous  and  un 
manly  it  was,  readily  imagined  a  dozen  signs  of  weakness  that  a 
female  might  exhibit  in  such  a  strait,  that  had  no  real  connection 
with  crime,  and  felt  a  strong  disposition  to  seek  an  interview,  and 
put  the  suspected  party  on  her  guard.  It  was  too  late  for  this, 
however,  just  then ;  and  he  contented  himself,  for  the  moment, 
with  studying  such  signs  of  character  and  consciousness  as  his 
native  sagacity  and  long  experience  enabled  him  to  detect. 

Although  nothing  could  be  more  simple  or  unpretending  than 
the  attire  of  Mary  Monson,  it  was  clearly  that  of  a  lady.  Every 
thing  about  her  denoted  that  station,  or  origin;  though  everything 
about  her,  as  Dunscomb  fancied,  also  denoted  a  desire  to  bring 
herself  down,  as  nearly  as  possible,  to  the  level  of  those  around 
her,  most  probably  that  she  might  not  attract  particular  attention. 
Our  lawyer  did  not  exactly  like  this  slight  proof  of  management, 
and  wished  it  were  not  so  apparent.  He  could  see  the  hands, 
feet,  figure,  hair,  and  general  air  of  the  female  he  was  so  strangely 
called  on  to  make  the  subject  of  his  investigations,  but  he  could 
not  yet  see  her  face.  The  last  was  again  covered  with  a  cambric 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  55 

handkerchief,  the  hand  which  held  it  being  ungloved.  It  was  a 
pretty  little  American  hand ;  white,  well-proportioned,  and  deli 
cate.  It  was  clear,  that  neither  its  proportions  nor  its  colour  had 
been  changed  by  uses  unsuited  to  its  owner's  sex  or  yeais.  But 
it  had  no  ring,  in  this  age  of  be-jewelled  fingers.  It  was  the  left 
hand,  moreover,  and  the  fourth  finger,  like  all  the  rest,  had  no 
ornament,  or  sign  of  matrimony.  He  inferred  from  this,  that  the 
stranger  was  unmarried ;  one  of  the  last  things  that  a  wife  usually 
lays  aside  being  her  wedding-ring.  The  foot  corresponded  with 
the  hand,  and  was  decidedly  the  smallest,  best-formed,  and  best- 
decorated  foot  in  Biberry.  John  Wilmeter  thought  it  the 
prettiest  he  had  ever  seen.  It  was  not  studiously  exhibited, 
however,  but  rested  naturally  and  gracefully  in  its  proper  place. 
The  figure  generally,  so  far  as  a  capacious  shawl  would  allow  of 
•its  being  seen,  was  pleasing,  graceful,  and  a  little  remarkable  for 
accuracy  of  proportions,  as  well  as  of  attire, 

Once  or  twice  Mrs.  Jones  spoke  to  her  companion ;  and  it  was 
when  answering  some  question  thus  put,  that  Dunscomb  first  got 
a  glimpse  of  his  intended  client's  face-  The  handkerchief  was 
partly  removed,  and  remained  so  long  enough  to  enable  him  to 
make  a  few  brief  observations.  It  was  then  that  he  felt  the  per 
fect  justice  of  his  friend's  description.  It  was  an  indescribable 
countenance,  in  all  things  but  its  effect;  which  was  quite  as 
marked  on  the  lawyer,  as  it  had  been  on  the  physician.  But  the 
arrival  of  Dr.  Coe  put  an  end  to  these  observations,  and  drew  all 
eyes  on  that  individual,  who  was  immediately  sworn.  The  cus 
tomary  preliminary  questions  were  put  to  this  witness,  respecting 
his  profession,  length  of  practice,  residence,  &c.,  when  the  exami 
nation  turned  more  on  the  matter  immediately  under  investigation. 

"  You  see  those  objects  on  the  table,  doctor?*'  said  the  coroner. 
"  What  do  you  say  they  are  ?" 

"Ossa  hominum  j  human  bones,  much  defaced  and  charred 
by  heat" 


56  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  Do  you  find  any  proof  about  them  of  violence  committed 
beyond  the  damage  done  by  fire  T' 

"  Certainly.  There  is  the  os  frontis  of  each  fractured  by  a 
blow;  a  common  blow,  as  I  should  judge. " 

"  What  do  you  mean,  sir,  by  a  common  blow  ?  An  accidental^ 
or  an  intentional  blow  ?" 

"  By  common  blow,  I  mean  that  one  blow  did  the  damage  to 
both  cranys." 

"Crany? —  how  do  you  spell  that  word,  doctor?  Common 
folks  get  put  out  by  foreign  tongues/' 

"  Cranys,  in  the  plural,  sir.  We  say  craniwm,  for  one  skull,  and 
crany,  for  two." 

"  I  wonder  what  he  would  say  for  numskull  ?""  whispered  John 
to  Michael. 

"  Yes,  sir ;  I  understand  you,  now.  I  trust  the  reporters  will 
get  it  right/' 

"  Oh  !  they  never  make  any  mistakes,  especially  in  legal  pro 
ceedings,"  quietly  remarked  Mr.  Dunscomb  to  the  doctor.  "  In 
matters  of  law  and  the  constitution,  they  are  of  proof !  Talk  of 
letters  on  the  constitution  !  What  are  equal  to  those  that  come 
to  us,  hibernally,  as  one  may  say,  from  Washington  ?" 

"  Hibernially  would  be  the  better  word/'  answered  McBrain, 
in  the  same  under  tone. 

"You  ought  to  know;  your  grandfather  was  an  Irishman^ 
Ned.  But  listen  to  this  examination/' 

"  And  now,  Dr.  Coe,  have  the  goodness  to  look  at  these  skele* 
"tons,"  resumed  the  coroner,  "and  tell  us  whether  they  belong  to 
man,  woman,  or  child.  WTiether  they  are  the  remains  of  adults, 
or  of  children/' 

"  Of  adults,  certainly.  On  that  point,  sir,  I  conceive  there  can 
be  no  doubt/' 

"And  as  to  the  sex?" 

"  I  should  think  that  is  equally  clear.     I  have  no  doubt  thai 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  57 

one  are  the  remains  of  Peter  Goodwin,  and  the  other  those  of 
his  wife.  Science  can  distinguish  between  the  sexes,  in  ordinary 
cases,  I  allow ;  but  this  is  a  case  in  which  science  is  at  fault,  for 
want  of  facts ;  and  taking  all  the  known  circumstances  into  con 
sideration,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  according  to  my 
best  judgment,  those  are  the  remains  of  the  missing  man  and 
woman  —  man  and  wife/' 

"  Am  I  to  understand  that  you  recognize  the  particular  skele 
tons  by  any  outward,  visible  proofs  V 

"  Yes }  there  is  the  stature.  Both  of  the  deceased  were  well 
known  to  me ;  and  I  should  say,  that  making  the  usual  allowance 
for  the  absence  of  the  ?nusculi}  the  pellis,  and  other  known  sub 
stances 

"  Doctor,  would  it  be  just  as  agreeable  to  you  to  use  the  com 
mon  dialect  ?"  demanded  a  shrewd-looking  farmer,  one  of  the 
jury,  who  appeared  equally  amused  and  vexed  at  this  display  of 
learning. 

"  Certainly,  sir — certainly,  Mr.  Blore ;  musculi  means  muscles, 
and  pellis  is  the  skin.  Abstract  the  muscles  and  skin,  and  the 
other  intermediate  substances,  from  the  bones,  and  the  apparent 
stature  would  be  reduced,  as  a  matter  of  course.  Making  those 
allowances,  I  see  in  those  skeletons  the  remains  of  Peter  and 
Dorothy  Goodwin.  Of  the  fact,  I  entertain  no  manner  of  doubt." 

As  Dr.  Coe  was  very  sincere  in  what  he  said,  he  expressed 
himself  somewhat  earnestly.  A  great  many  eyes  were  turned 
triumphantly  towards  the  stranger  who  had  presumed  to  intimate 
that  the  bones  of  both  the  remains  were  those  of  women,  when 
everybody  in  and  about  Biberry  knew  Peter  Goodwin  so  well, 
and  knew  that  his  wife,  if  anything,  was  the  taller  of  the  two. 
No  one  in  all  that  crowd  doubted  as  to  the  fact,  except  McBrain 
and  his  friend ;  and  the  last  doubted  altogether  on  the  faith  of 
the  doctor's  science.  He  had  never  known  him  mistaken,  though 
often  examined  in  court,  and  was  aware  that  the  bar  considered 

3* 


58  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

him  one  of  the  safest  and  surest  witnesses  they  could  employ  in 
all  cases  of  controverted  facts. 

Dr.  Coe's  examination  proceeded. 

"  Have  you  a  direct  knowledge  of  any  of  the  circumstances 
connected  with  this  fire?"  demanded  the  coroner. 

"  A  little,  perhaps.  I  was  called  to  visit  a  .patient  about  mid 
night,  and  was  obliged  to  pass  directly  before  the  door  of  Good 
win's  house.  The  jury  knows  that  it  stood  on  a  retired  road,  and 
that  one  would  not  be  likely  to  meet  with  any  person  travelling 
it,  so  early  in  the  morning.  I  did  pass,  however,  two  men,  who 
were  walking  very  fast,  and  in  the  direction  of  Goodwin's.  I 
could  not  see  their  faces,  nor  did  I  know  them  by  their  figures 
and  movements.  As  I  see  everybody,  and  know  almost  every 
body,  hereabouts,  I  concluded  they  were  strangers.  About  four, 
I  was  on  my  return  along  the  same  road,  and  as  my  sulky  rose 
to  the  top  of  Windy  Hill,  I  got  a  view  of  Goodwin's  house. 
The  flames  were  just  streaming  out  of  the  east  end  of  the  roof, 
and  the  little  wing  on  that  end  of  the  building,  in  which  the  old 
folks  slept,  was  in  a  bright  blaze.  The  other  end  was  not  much 
injured ;  and  I  saw  at  an  upper  window  the  figure  of  a  female — 
she  resembled,  as  well  as  I  could  judge  by  that  light,  and  at  that 
distance,  the  young  lady  now  present,  and  who  is  said  to  have 
occupied  the  chamber  under  the  roof,  in  the  old  house,  for  some 
time  past;  though  I  can't  say  I  have  ever  seen  her  there,  unless 
I  saw  her  then,  under  the  circumstances  mentioned.  The  old 
people  could  not  have  been  as  ailing  this  spring  as  was  common 
with  them,  as  I  do  not  remember  to  have  been  stopped  by  them 
once.  They  never  were  in  the  habit  of  sending  for  the  doctor, 
but  seldom  let  me  go  past  the  door,  without  calling  me  in." 

"  Did  you  see  any  one  beside  the  figure  of  the  female  at  the 
window?" 

"  Yes.  There  were  two  men  beneath  that  window,  and  they 
appeared  to  me  to  be  speaking  to,  or  holding  gome  sort  of  com- 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR.  59 

tmmication  with,  the  female.  I  saw  gestures,  and  I  saw  one  or 
two  articles  thrown  out  of  the  window.  My  view  was  only  for  a 
minute;  and  when  I  reached  the  house,  a  considerable  crowd  had 
collected,  and  I  had  no  opportunity  to  observe,  particularly  in  a 
scene  of  such  confusion/7 

"  Was  the  female  still  at  the  upper  window,  when  you  reached 
the  house?'7 

"  No.  I  saw  the  lady  now  present  standing  near  the  burning 
Building,  and  held  by  a  man — Peter  Davidson.,  I  think  it  was — 
who  told  me  she  wanted  to  rush  into  the  house  to  look  for  the 
old  folks," 

"  Did  you  see  any  efforts  of  that  sort  in  her  ?" 

"  Certainly.  She  struggled  to  get  away  from  Peter,  and  acted 
like  a  person  who  wished  to  rush  into  the  burning  building. " 

"  Were  the  struggles  natural  —  or  might  they  not  have  been 
affected?" 

"  They  might  If  it  was  acting,  it  was  good  acting.  I  have 
seen  as  good,  however,  in  my  life/7 

The  doctor  had  a  meaning  manner,  that  said  more  than  his 
words.  He  spoke  very  low — so  low  as  not  to  be  audible  to  those 
who  sat  in  the  farther  parts  of  the  room ;  which  will  explain  the 
perfect  indifference  to  his  testimony,  that  was  manifested  by  the 
subject  of  his  remarks.  An  impression,  however,  was  made  on 
the  jury,  which  was  composed  of  men  much  disposed  to  push  dis 
trust  to  demonstration. 

The  coroner  now  thought  it  time  to  spring  the  principal  mine, 
which  had  been  carefully  preparing  during  the  recess  in  the  in 
vestigation;  and  he  ordered  "Mary  Monson"  to  be  called  —  a 
witness  who  had  been  regularly  summoned  to  attend,  among  the 
crowd  of  persons  that  had  received  similar  notices. 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

Mj  deed 's  upon  iny  head  !     I  crave  the  la^»i 
Hie  penalty  and  forfeit  of  my  bond. 

Zhylock. 

THE  eye*  of  Dunscorab  were  fastened  intently  on  the  female 
stranger,  as  slie  advanced  to  the  place  occupied  by  the  witnesses* 
Her  features  denoted  agitation,  certainly ;  but  he  saw  no  traces 
of  guilt.  It  seemed  so  improbable,  moreover,  that  a  young  woman 
of  her  years  and  appearance  should  be  guilty  of  so  dark  an  offence-, 
and  that  for  money,  too,  that  all  the  chances  were  in  favour  of 
her  innocence.  Still,  there  were  suspicions  circumstances,  out 
of  all  question,  connected  with  her  situation;  and  he  was  too 
much  experienced  in  the  strange  and  unaccountable  ways  of 
crime,  not  to  be  slow  to  form  his  conclusions. 

The  face  of  Mary  Monson  was  now  fully  exposed ;  it  being 
customary  to  cause  female  witnesses  to  remove  their  hats,  in  order 
that  the  jurors  may  observe  their  countenances.  And  what  a 
countenance  it  was  !  Feminine,  open,  with  scarce  a  trace  of  the 
ordinary  passions  about  it,  and  illuminated  from  within,  as  we 
have  already  intimated.  The  girl  might  have  been  twenty,  though 
she  afterwards  stated  her  age  to  be  a  little  more  than  twenty-one 
—  perhaps  the  most  interesting  period  of  a  female's  existence. 
The  features  were  not  particularly  regular,  and  an  artist  might 
have  discovered  various  drawbacks  on  her  beauty,  if  not  positive 
defects;  but  no  earthly  being  could  have  quarrelled  with  the 
expression.  That  was  a  mixture  of  intelligence,  softness,  spirit, 

'60) 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  61 

and  feminine  innocence,  that  did  not  fail  to  produce  an  impression 
on  a  crowd  which  had  almost  settled  down  into  a  firm  conviction 
of  her  guilt.  Some  even  doubted,  and  most  of  those  present 
thought  it  very  strange. 

The  reporters  began  to  write,  casting  their  eyes  eagerly  to 
wards  this  witness ;  and  John  Dunscomb,  who  sat  near  them,  soon 
discovered  that  there  were  material  discrepancies  in  their  descrip 
tions.  These,  however,  were  amicably  settled  by  comparing 
notes;  and  when  the  accounts  of  that  day's  examination  appeared 
in  the  journals  of  the  time,  they  were  sufficiently  consistent  with 
each  other ;  much  more  so,  indeed,  than  with  the  truth  in  its 
severer  aspects.  There  was  no  wish  to  mislead,  probably;  but 
the  whole  system  has  the  capital  defect  of  making  a  trade  of 
news.  The  history  of  passing  events  comes  to  us  sufficiently 
clouded  and  obscured  by  the  most  vulgar  and  least  praiseworthy 
of  all  our  lesser  infirmities,  even  when  left  to  take  what  may  be 
termed  its  natural  course ;  but,  as  soon  as  the  money-getting  prin 
ciple  is  applied  to  it,  facts  become  articles  for  the  market,  and 
go  up  and  down,  much  as  do  other  commodities,  in  the  regular 
prices-current. 

Mary  Monson  trembled  a  little  when  sworn ;  but  she  had  evi 
dently  braced  her  nerves  for  the  trial.  Women  are  very  capable 
of  self-command,  even  in  situations  as  foreign  to  their  habits  as 
this,  if  they  have  time  to  compose  themselves,  and  to  come 
forward  under  the  influence  of  resolutions  deliberately  formed. 
Such  was  probably  the  state  of  mind  of  this  solitary  and  seem 
ingly  unfriended  young  woman ;  for,  though  pale  as  death,  she 
was  apparently  composed.  We  say  unfriended  —  Mrs.  Jones, 
herself,  having  given  all  her  friends  to  understand  that  she  had 
invited  the  stranger  to  her  house  under  a  sense  of  general  duty, 
and  not  on  account  of  any  private  or  particular  interest  she  felt 
in  her  affairs.  She  was  as  much  a  stranger  to  her,  as  to  every 
one  else  in  the  village. 


62  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  tell  us  your  name,  place  of  ordi 
nary  residence,  and  usual  occupation  V  asked  the  coroner,  in  a 
dry,  cold  manner,  though  not  until  he  had  offered  the  witness  a 
geafc,  in  compliment  to  her  sex. 

If  the  face  of  Mary  Monson  was  pale  the  instant  before,  it  now 
flushed  to  scarlet.  The  tint  that  appears  in  the  August  evening 
sky,  when  heat-lightning  illuminates  the  horizon,  is  scarce  more 
bright  than  that  which  chased  the  previous  pallid  hue  from  her 
cheeks.  Dunscomb  understood  her  dilemma,  and  interposed. 
She  was  equally  unwilling  to  tell  her  real  name,  and  to  give  a 
false  one,  under  the  solemn  responsibility  of  an  oath.  There  is, 
probably,  less  of  deliberate,  calculated  false-swearing,  than  of  any 
other  offence  against  justice;  few  having  the  nerve,  or  the  moral 
obtuseness,  that  is  necessary  to  perjury.  We  do  not  mean  by 
this,  that  all  which  legal  witnesses  say  is  true,  or  the  half  of  it; 
for  ignorance,  dull  imaginations  working  out  solutions  of  half- 
comprehended  propositions,  and  the  strong  propensity  we  all  feel 
to  see  things  as  we  have  expected  to  find  them,  in  a  measure 
disqualifies  fully  half  of  those  on  whom  the  law  has  devolved  a 
most  important  duty,  to  discharge  it  with  due  intelligence  and 
impartiality, 

"  As  a  member  of  the  bar,  I  interfere  in  behalf  of  the  wit 
ness,"  said  Dunscomb,  rising,  "She  is  evidently  unacquainted 
with  her  true  position  here,  and  consequently  with  her  rights. 
Jack,  get  a  glass  of  water  for  the  young  lady;"  and  never  did 
Jack  obey  a  request  of  his  uncle  with  greater  alacrity.  "A 
witness  cannot,  with  propriety,  be  treated  as  a  criminal,  or 
one  suspected,  without  being  apprised  that  the  law  does  not 
require  of  those  thus  circumstanced,  answers  affecting  them 
selves." 

Dunscomb  had  listened  more  to  his  feelings  than  to  his  legal 
knowledge,  in  offering  this  objection,  inasmuch  as  no  very  search 
ing  question  had,  as  yet,  been  put  to  Mary  Monson.  This  the 


THE  WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  63 

eoroner  saw,  and  he  did  not  fail  to  let  it  be  understood  that  he 
was  aware  of  the  weakness  of  the  objection. 

"  Coroners  are  not  governed  by  precisely  the  same  rules  as 
ordinary  committing  magistrates/ '  he  quietly  observed,  "though 
tve  equally  respect  the  rules  of  evidence.  No  witness  is  obliged 
to  answer  a  question  before  an  inquest,  that  will  criminate  him 
self,  any  more  than  at  the  Oyer  and  Terminer.  If  the  lady  will 
say  she  does  not  wish  to  tell  her  real  name,  because  it  may  cri 
minate  her,  I  shall  not  press  the  question  myself,  or  allow  it  to 
be  pressed  by  others." 

"  Very  true,  sir ;  but  the  law  requires,  in  these  preliminary 
proceedings,  no  more  than  such  accuracy  as  is  convenient  in 
making  out  the  records.  I  conceive  that  in  this  particular  case 
the  question  might  be  varied  by  asking,  f  You  are  known  by  the 
name  of  Mary  Monson,  I  believe?7 " 

"  What  great  harm  can  it  be  to  this  young  female  to  give  her 
real  name,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  as  I  understand  you  are  that  distin 
guished  counsellor,  if  she  be  perfectly  innocent  of  the  death  of 
the  Goodwins?" 

"A  perfectly  innocent  person  may  have  good  reasons  for  wish 
ing  to  conceal  her  name.  These  reasons  obtain  additional  force 
when  we  look  around  us,  and  see  a  committee  of  reporters,  who 
stand  ready  to  transmit  all  that  passes  to  the  press ;  —  but,  it 
might  better  serve  the  ends  of -justice  to  allow  me  to  confer  with 
the  witness  in  private." 

"With  all  my  heart,  sir.  Take  her  into  one  of  the  jury 
rooms,  and  I  will  put  another  physician  on  the  stand.  When 
you  are  through  with  your  consultation,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  we 
shall  be  ready  to  proceed  with  your  client." 

Dunscomb  offered  his  arm  to  the  girl,  and  led  her  through  the 
crowd,  while  a  third  medical  man  was  sworn.  This  witness  cor 
roborated  all  of  Dr.  Coe's  opinions,  treating  the  supposition  that 
both  the  skeletons  wsrs  those  of  women  with  very  little  respect* 


64  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  suspected  stranger  lost  a  great  dea. 
of  ground  in  the  course  of  that  half-hour.  In  the  first  place,  the 
discussion  about  the  name  was  received  very  much  as  an  admis 
sion  of  guilt ;  for  Dunscomb's  argument  that  persons  who  were 
innocent  might  have  many  reasons  for  concealing  their  names, 
did  not  carry  much  weight  with  the  good  people  of  Biberry. 
Then  any  doubts  which  might  have  been  raised  by  McBrain's 
suggestion  concerning  the  nature  of  the  skeletons,  were  effectually 
removed  by  the  corroborating  testimony  of  Dr.  Short,  who  so 
fully  sustained  Dr.  Coe.  So  much  are  the  Americans  accus 
tomed  to  refer  the  decision  of  nearly  all  questions  to  numbers, 
it  scarcely  exaggerates  the  truth  to  say  that,  on  the  stand,  the 
opinion  of  half-a-dozen  country  surveyors  touching  a  problem 
in  geometry,  would  be  very  apt  to  overshadow  that  of  a  professor 
from  West  Point,  or  old  Yale.  Majorities  are  the  primum 
mobile  of  the  common  mind,  and  he  who  can  get  the  greatest 
number  on  his  side  is  very  apt  to  be  considered  right,  and  to 
reap  the  benefits  of  being  so. 

A  fourth  and  a  fifth  medical  man  were  examined,  and  they 
concurred  in  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Coe  and  his  neighbours.  All 
gave  it  as  the  result  of  their  enquiries,  that  they  believed  the 
two  skulls  had  been  broken  with  the  same  instrument,  and  that 
the  blow,  if  it  did  not  cause  immediate  death,  must  have  had  the 
effect  to  destroy  consciousness.  As  regards  the  sex,  the  answers 
were  given  in  a  tone  somewhat  supercilious. 

"Science  is  a  very  good  thing  in  its  place/ '  observed  one  of 
these  last  witnesses;  "but  science  is  subject  to  known  facts. 
We  all  know  that  Peter  Goodwin  and  his  wife  lived  in  that 
house ;  we  all  know  that  Dorothy  Goodwin  was  a  large  woman, 
and  that  Peter  Goodwin  was  a  small  man, — that  they  were  about 
of  a  height,  in  fact,  —  and  that  these  skeletons  very  accurately 
represent  their  respective  statures.  We  also  know  that  the  house 
is  burnt,  that  the  old  couple  are  missing,  that  these  bones  were 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  63 

found  in  a  wing  in  which  they  slept,  and  that  no  other  bones 
have  been  found  there.  Now,  to  my  judgment,  these  facts  carry 
as  much  weight,  ay,  even  more  weight,  than  any  scientific  reason 
ing  in  the  premises.  I  conclude,  therefore,  that  these  are  the 
remains  of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin  —  have  no  doubt  that 
they  are,  indeed." 

"  Am  I  permitted  to  ask  this  witness  a  question,  Mr.  Coroner  1" 
demanded  Dr.  McBrain. 

"With  all  my  heart,  sir.  The  jury  wishes  to  ascertain  all 
they  can,  and  our  sole  object  is  justice.  Our  inquests  are  not 
very  rigid  as  to  forms,  and  you  are  welcome  to  examine  the  wit 
ness  as  much  as  you  please." 

"You  knew  Goodwin?"  asked  McBrain,  directly  of  the 
witness. 

"I  did,  sir;  quite  well." 

"Had  he  all  his  teeth,  as  you  remember?" 

"I  think  he  had." 

"  On  the  supposition  that  his  front  upper  teeth  were  all  gone, 
and  that  the  skeleton  you  suppose  to  be  his  had  all  the  front 
upper  teeth,  would  you  still  regard  the  facts  you  have  mentioned 
as  better,  or  even  as  good  proof,  as  the  evidence  of  science,  which 
tells  us  that  the  man  who  has  lost  his  teeth  cannot  possess  them  ?" 

"  I  scarcely  call  that  a  scientific  fact,  at  all,  sir.  Any  one  may 
judge  of  that  circumstance,  as  well  as  a  physician.  If  it  were  aa 
you  say,  I  should  consider  the  presence  of  the  teeth  pretty  good 
proof  that  the  skeleton  was  that  of  some  other  person,  unless  the 
teeth  were  the  work  of  a  dentist." 

"  Then  why  not  put  any  other  equally  sure  anatomical  fact  in 
opposition  to  what  is  generally  supposed,  in  connection  with  the 
wing,  the  presence  of  the  men,  and  all  the  other  circumstances 
you  have  mentioned  ?" 

"If  there  were  any  other  sure  anatomical  fact,  so  I  would. 
But,  in  the  condition  in  which  those  remains  are,  I  do  not  think 


66  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

the  best  anatomist  could  say  that  he  can  distinguish  whethei 
they  belonged  to  a  man  or  to  a  woman/' 

"  I  confess  that  the  case  has  its  difficulties/'  McBrain  quietly 
answered.  "Still  I  incline  to  my  first  opinion.  I  trust,  Mr. 
Coroner,  that  the  skeletons  will  be  carefully  preserved,  so  long 
as  there  may  be  any  reason  to  continue  these  legal  enquiries  ?" 

"  Certainly,  sir.  A  box  is  made  for  that  purpose,  and  they 
will  be  carefully  deposited  in  it,  as  soon  as  the  inquest  adjourns 
for  the  day.  It  is  no  unusual  thing,  gentlemen,  for  doctors  to 
disagree." 

This  was  said  with  a  smile,  and  had  the  effect  to  keep  the 
peace.  McBrain,  however,  had  all  the  modesty  of  knowledge, 
and  was  never  disposed  to  show  off  his  superior  attainments  in 
the  faces  of  those  who  might  be  supposed  to  know  less  than 
himself.  Nor  Was  he,  by  any  means,  certain  of  his  fact ;  though 
greatly  inclined  to  believe  that  both  the  skeletons  were  those  of 
females.  The  heat  had  been  so  powerful  as  to  derange,  in  some 
measure,  if  not  entirely  to  deface,  his  proofs ;  and  he  was  not  a 
man  to  press  a  fact,  in  a  case  of  this  magnitude,  without  sufficient 
justification.  All  he  now  wanted,  was  to  reserve  a  point  that 
might  have  a  material  influence  hereafter,  in  coming  to  a  correct 
conclusion. 

It  was  fully  an  hour  before  Dunscornb  returned,  bringing 
Mary  Monson  on  his  arm.  John  followed  the  latter  closely,  for, 
though  not  admitted  to  the  room  in  which  this  long  private  con 
ference  had  been  held,  he  had  not  ceased  to  pace  the  gallery  in 
front  of  its  door  during  the  whole  time.  Dunscomb  looked  very 
grave,  and,  as  McBrain  thought,  and  he  was  very  expert  in  in 
terpreting  the  language  of  his  friend's  countenance,  disappointed. 
The  girl  herself  had  evidently  been  weeping,  and  that  violently. 
There  was  a  paleness  of  the  face,  and  a  tremor  in  the  frame,  too, 
that  caused  the  observant  physician  to  suppose  that,  for  the  first 
time,  she  had  been  made  to  comprehend  that  she  was  the  object 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  67 

of  such  dire  distrust.  No  sooner  were  the  two  in  their  old  seats, 
than  the  coroner  prepared  to  renew  the  suspended  examination. 

"Witness,"  repeated  that  functionary  with  marked  formality, 
"what  is  your  name?" 

The  answer  was  given  in  a  tremulous  voice,  but  with  sufficient 
readiness,  as  if  previously  prepared. 

"  I  am  known,  in  and  around  Biberry,  by  the  name  of  Mary 
Monson." 

The  coroner  paused,  passed  a  hand  over  his  brow,  mused  a 
moment,  and  abandoned  a  half-formed  determination  he  had 
made,  to  push  this  particular  enquiry  as  far  as  he  could.  To 
state  the  truth,  he  was  a  little  afraid  of  Mr.  Thomas  Dunscomb, 
whose  reputation  at  the  bar  was  of  too  high  a  character  to  have 
escaped  his  notice.  On  the  whole,  therefore,  he  decided  to 
accept  the  name  of  Mary  Monson,  reserving  the  right  of  the  state 
to  enquire  further,  hereafter. 

"Where  do  you  reside?" 

"  At  present,  in  this  place  —  lately,  in  the  family  of  Peter 
Goodwin,  whose  remains  are  supposed  to  be  in  this  room." 

"  How  long  had  you  resided  in  that  family  ?" 

"  Nine  weeks,  to  a  day.  I  arrived  in  the  morning,  and  the 
fire  occurred  at  night." 

"  Relate  all  that  you  know  concerning  that  fire,  if  you  please, 
Miss — I  call  you  Miss,  supposing  you  to  be  unmarried?" 

Mary  Monson  merely  made  a  slight  inclination  of  her  head,  as 
one  acknowledges  that  a  remark  is  heard  and  understood.  This 
did  not  more  than  half  satisfy  the  coroner,  his  wife,  for  reasons 
of  her  own,  having  particularly  desired  him  to  ask  the  "  Monson 
girl,"  when  she  was  put  on  the  stand,  whether  she  was  or  was 
not  married.  But  it  was  too  late,  just  then,  to  ascertain  this  in 
teresting  fact,  and  the  examination  proceeded. 

"  Relate  all  that  you  know  concerning  the  fire,  if  you  please, 


68  THE  WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  I  know  very  little.  I  was  awakened  by  a  bright  light; — arose, 
and  dressed  myself  as  well  as  I  could,  and  was  about  to  descend 
the  stairs,  when  I  found  I  was  too  late.  I  then  went  to  a  win 
dow,  and  intended  to  throw  my  bed  out,  and  let  myself  down 
on  it,  when  two  men  appeared,  and  raised  a  ladder,  by  which  I 
got  safely  out." 

"Were  any  of  your  effects  saved V 

"All,  I  believe.  The  same  two  persons  entered  my  room,  and 
passed  my  trunks,  box,  and  carpet-bag,  writing-desk,  and  other 
articles,  out  of  the  room,  as  well  as  most  of  its  furniture.  It  was 
the  part  of  the  building  last  on  fire,  and  it  was  safe  entering  the 
room  I  occupied,  for  near  half  an  hour  after  I  escaped." 

"How  long  had  you  known  the  Goodwins?" 

"From  the  time  when  I  first  came  to  live  in  their  house." 

"  Did  you  pass  the  evening  of  the  night  of  the  fire  in  their 
company?" 

"  I  did  not.  Very  little  of  my  time  was  passed  in  their  com 
pany,  unless  it  was  at  meals." 

This  answer  caused  a  little  stir  among  the  audience,  of  whom 
much  the  larger  portion  thought  it  contained  an  admission  to  be 
noted.  Why  should  not  a  young  woman  who  lived  in  a  house 
so  much  apart  from  a  general  neighbourhood,  not  pass  most  of 
her  time  in  the  company  of  those  with  whom  she  dwelt ?  "If 
they  were  good  enough  to  live  with,  I  should  think  they  might 
be  good  enough  to  associate  with,"  whispered  one  of  the  most 
active  female  talkers  of  Biberry,  but  in  a  tone  so  loud  as  to  be 
heard  by  all  near  her. 

This  was  merely  yielding  to  a  national  and  increasing  suscep 
tibility  to  personal  claims;  it  being  commonly  thought  aristocratic 
to  refuse  to  associate  with  everybody,  when  the  person  subject 
to  remark  has  any  apparent  advantages  to  render  such  association 
desirable.  All  others  may  do  as  they  please. 

"  You  did  not,  then,  make  one  of  the  family  regularly,  bat 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  69 

were  there  for  some  particular  purpose  of  your  own?"  resumed 
the  coroner. 

"  I  think,  sir,  on  reflection,  that  you  will  see  this  examination 
is  taking  a  very  irregular  course/'  interposed  Dunscomb.  "It 
is  more  like  an  investigation  for  a  commitment,  than  an  inquest." 

"  The  law  allows  the  freest  modes  of  enquiry  in  all  such  cases, 
Mr.  Dunscomb.  Recollect,  sir,  there  have  been  arson  and  mur 
der —  two  of  the  highest  crimes  known  to  the  books/' 

"  I  do  not  forget  it ;  and  recognise  not  only  all  your  rights, 
sir,  but  your  duties.  Nevertheless,  this  young  lady  has  rights, 
too,  and  is  to  be  treated  distinctly  in  one  of  two  characters ;  as  a 
witness,  or  ap  a  party  accused.  If  in  the  latter,  I  shall  at  once 
advise  her  to  answer  no  more  questions  in  this  state  of  the  case. 
My  duty,  as  her  counsel,  requires  me  to  say  as  much/' 

"  She  has,  then,  regularly  retained  you,  Mr.  Dunscomb  ?"  the 
coroner  asked,  with  interest. 

"That,  sir,  is  a  matter  between  her  and  myself.  I  appear 
here  as  counsel,  and  shall  claim  the  rights  of  one.  I  know  that 
you  can  carry  on  this  inquest  without  my  interference,  if  you  see 
fit;  but  no  one  can  exclude  the  citizen  from  the  benefit  of  advice. 
Even  the  new  code,  as  extravagant  and  high-flying  an  invention  as 
ever  came  from  the  misguided  ingenuity  of  man,  will  allow  of  this." 

"There  is  no  wish,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  to  put  any  obstacles  in 
your  way.  Let  every  man  do  his  whole  duty.  Your  client  can 
certainly  refuse  to  answer  any  questions  she  may  please,  on  the 
ground  that  the  answer  may  tend  to  criminate  herself;  and  so 
may  any  one  else." 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir ;  the  law  is  still  more  indulgent  in 
these  preliminary  proceedings.  A  party  who  knows  himself  to 
be  suspected,  has  a  right  to  evade  questions  that  may  militate 
against  his  interests;  else  would  the  boasted  protection  which 
the  law  so  far  throws  around  every  one,  that  he  need  not  be  his 
own  accuser,  become  a  mere  pretence." 


70  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  I  shall  endeavour  to  put  my  questions  in  such  a  way,  as  to 
give  her  the  benefit  of  all  her  rights.  Miss  Monson,  it  is  said 
that  you  have  been  seen,  since  the  fire,  to  have  some  gold  in  your 
possession ;  have  you  any  objection  to  let  that  gold  be  seen  by 
the  jury?" 

"  None  in  the  world,  sir.  I  have  a  few  gold  pieces  —  here 
they  are,  in  my  purse.  They  do  not  amount  to  much,  either  in 
numbers  or  value.  You  are  at  liberty  to  examine  them  as  much 
as  you  please/' 

Dunscomb  had  betrayed  a  little  uneasiness  at  this  question; 
but  the  calm,  steady  manner  in  which  the  young  woman  an 
swered,  and  the  coolness  with  which  she  put  her  purse  into  the 
coroner's  hand,  reassured,  or  rather  surprised  him.  He  remained 
silent,  therefore,  interposing  no  objection  to  the  examination. 

"  Here  are  seven  half-eagles,  two  quarter-eagles,  and  a  strange 
coin  that  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  seen  before,"  said  the 
coroner.  "What  do  you  call  this  piece,  Mr.  Dunscomb?" 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,  sir ;  I  do  not  remember  eve1*  to  have  seen 
the  coin  before,  myself." 

"  It  is  an  Italian  coin,  of  the  value  of  about  twenty  dollars, 
they  tell  me,"  answered  Mary,  quietly.  "I  think  it  is  called 
after  the  reigning  sovereign,  .whoever  he  may  be.  I  got  it,  in 
exchange  for  some  of  our  own  money,  from  an  emigrant  from 
Europe,  and  kept  it  as  a  thing  a  little  out  of  the  common  way." 

The  simplicity,  distinctness,  not  to  say  nerve,  with  which  this 
was  said,  placed  Dunscomb  still  more  at  his  ease,  and  he  now 
freely  let  the  enquiry  take  its  course.  All  this  did  not  prevent 
his  being  astonished  that  one  so  young,  and  seemingly  so  friend 
less,  should  manifest  so  much  coolness  and  self-possession,  under 
circumstances  so  very  trying.  Such  was  the  fact,  however ;  and 
he  was  fain  to  await  further  developments,  in  order  better  to  com 
prehend  the  character  of  his  client. 

"  Is  Mrs.  Pope  present  ?"  enquired  the  coroner.     "  The  lady 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  71 

who  told  us  yesterday  she  had  seen  the  specie  of  the  late  Mrs. 
Goodwin,  during  the  life-time  of  the  latter  ?" 

It  was  almost  superflous  to  ask  if  any  particular  person  were 
present,  as  nearly  all  Biberry'were  in,  or  about,  the  court-house. 
Up  started  the  widow,  therefore,  at  this  appeal,  and  coming  for 
ward  with  alacrity,  she  was  immediately  sworn,  which  she  had 
not  been  the  previous  day,  and  went  on  the  stand  as  a  regular 
witness. 

"  Your  name?"  observed  the  coroner. 

"Abigail  Pope  —  folks  write  '  relict  of  John  Pope,  deceased,' 
in  all  my  law  papers." 

"  Very  well,  Mrs.  Pope ;  the  simple  name  will  suffice  for  the 
present  purposes.  Do  you  reside  in  this  neighbourhood  ?" 

a  In  Biberry.  I  was  born,  brought  up,  married,  became  a 
widow,  and  still  dwell,  all  within  half-a-mile  of  this  spot.  My 
maiden  name  was  Dickson." 

Absurd  and  forward  as  these  answers  may  seem  to  most  per 
sons,  they  had  an  effect  on  the  investigation  that  was  then  going 
on  in  Biberry.  Most  of  the  audience  saw,  and  felt,  the  difference 
between  the  frank  statements  of  the  present  witness,  and  the 
reserve  manifested  by  the  last. 

(l Now,  why  couldn't  that  Mary  Monson  answer  all  these 
questions,  just  as  well  as  Abigail  Pope?"  said  one  female  talker 
to  a  knot  of  listeners.  "  She  has  a  glib  enough  tongue  in  her 
head,  if  she  only  sees  fit  to  use  it !  I  '11  engage  no  one  can  an 
swer  more  readily,  when  she  wishes  to  let  a  thing  out.  There 's 
a  dreadful  history  behind  the  curtain,  in  my  judgment,  about 
that  same  young  woman,  could  a  body  only  get  at  it." 

"  Mr.  Sanford  will  get  at  it,  before  he  has  done  with  her,  I  '11 
engage,"  answered  a  friend.  "  I  have  heard  it  said  he  is  the 
most  investigating  coroner  in  the  state,  when  he  sets  about  a  case 
in  good  earnest.  He  '11  be  very  apt  to  make  the  most  of  this, 
for  we  never  have  had  anything  one-half  so  exciting  in  Biberry, 


72  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

as  these  murders !  I  have  long  thought  we  were  rather  out  of 
the  way  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  until  now ;  but  our  time  has 
come,  and  we  shan't  very  soon  hear  the  last  of  it !" 

"It's  all  in  the  papers,  already!"  exclaimed  a  third.  "Bi- 
berry  looks  as  grand  as  York,  or  Albany,  in  the  columns  of  every 
paper  from  town,  this  morning !  I  declare  it  did  me  good  to  see 
our  little  place  holding  up  its  head  among  the  great  of  the  earth, 
as  it  might  be " 

What  else,  in  the  way  of  local  patriotism,  may  have  escaped 
this  individual,  cannot  now  be  known,  the  coroner  drawing  off 
her  auditors,  by  the  question  next  put  to  the  widow. 

"  Did  you  ever  see  any  gold  coins  in  the  possession  of  the  late 
Mrs.  Goodwin?"  asked  that  functionary. 

"  Several  times — I  do  n't  know  but  I  might  say  often.  Five 
or  six  times,  at  least.  I  used  to  sew  for  the  old  lady,  and  you 
know  how  it  is  when  a  body  works,  in  that  way,  in  a  family — it 's 
next  thing,  I  do  suppose,  to  being  a  doctor,  so  far  as  secrets  go*" 

"  Should  you  know  any  of  that  coin  were  you  to  see  it  again, 
Mrs.  Pope?" 

"  I  think  I  might.  There 's  one  piece,  in  partic'lar,  that  I 
euppose  I  should  know,  anywhere.  It 's  a  wonderful  looking 
piece  of  money,  and  true  Californy,  I  conclude." 

"Did  any  of  Mrs.  Goodwin's  gold  coins  bear  a  resemblance  to 
this?"  showing  a  half-eagle." 

"Yes,  sir — that 's  a  five-dollar  piece  —  I've  had  one  of  them 
myself,  in  the  course  of  my  life." 

"  Mrs.  Goodwin  had  coins  similar  to  this,  I  then  understand 
you  to  say?" 

"  She  had  as  many  as  fifty,  I  should  think.  Altogether,  she 
told  me  she  had  as  much  as  four  hundred  dollars  in  that  stock 
ing  !  I  remember  the  sum,  for  it  sounded  like  a  great  deal  for 
anybody  to  have,  who  was  n't  a  bank,  like.  It  quite  put  me  in 
mind  of  the  place  ers" 


THEWAYSOFTHEHOUR.  73 

"Was  there  any  coin  like  this?"  showing  the  widow  the 
Italian  piece, 

"  That 's  the  piece  !  I  Jd  know  it  among  a  thousand !  I  had 
It  in  my  hands  as  much  as  five  minutes,  trying  to  read  the 
Latin  on  it,  and  make  it  out  into  English.  All  the  rest  was 
American  gold,  the  old  lady  told  me ;  but  this  piece  she  said  was 
foreign/* 

This  statement  produced  a  great  sensation  in  the  courtroom. 
Although  Mrs.  Pope  was  flippant,  a  gossip,  and  a  little  notorious 
for  meddling  with  her  neighbours'  concerns,  no  one  suspected  her 
of  fabricating  such  a  story,  under  oath.  The  piece  of  gold  passed 
from  juror  to  juror;  and  each  man  among  them  felt  satisfied  that 
he  would  know  the  coin  again,  after  an  interval  of  a  few  weeks. 
Dunscomb  probably  put  less  faith  in  this  bit  of  testimony,  than 
any  other  person  present;  and  he  was  curious  to  note  its  effect 
on  his  client.  To  his  great  surprise,  she  betrayed  no  uneasiness; 
her  countenance  maintaining  a  calm  that  he  now  began  to  appre 
hend  denoted  a  practised  art ;  and  he  manifested  a  desire  to  exa 
mine  the  piece  of  gold  for  himself.  It  was  put  in  his  hand,  and 
he  glanced  at  its  face  a  little  eagerly.  It  was  an  unusual  coin ; 
but  it  had  no  defect  or  mark  that  might  enable  one  to  distinguish 
between  it  and  any  other  piece  of  a  similar  impression.  The 
coroner  interpreted  the  meaning  of  his  eye,  and  suspended  the 
examination  of  the  widow,  to  question  Mary  Monson  herself. 

"Your  client  sees  the  state  of  the  question,  Mr.  Dunscomb/' 
he  said ;  "  and  you  will  look  to  her  rights.  Mine  authorize  me, 
as  I  understand  them,  to  enquire  of  her  concerning  a  few  facta 
in  relation  to  this  piece  of  money." 

"I  will  answer  your  questions,  sir,  without  any  hesitation/' 
the  accused  replied,  with  a  degree  of  steadiness  that  Dunscomb 
deemed  astonishing. 

"  How  long  has  this  piece  of  gold  been  in  your  possession,  if 
you  please,  Miss?" 

4 


74  'THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"About  a  twelvemonth.  I  began  to  collect  the  gold  I  have, 
very  nearly  a  year  since/' 

"Has  it  been  in  your  possession,  uninterruptedly,  all  that 
time?" 

"  So  far  as  I  know,  sir,  it  has.  A  portion  of  the  time,  and  a 
large  portion  of  it,  it  has  not  been  kept  in  my  purse;  but  I  she  aid 
think  no  one  could  have  meddled  with  it,  when  it  has  been  else- 
wher,e." 

"  Have  you  anything  to  remark  on  the  testimony  just  given?" 

"It  is  strictly  true.  Poor  Mrs.  Goodwin  certainly  had  the 
store  of  gold  mentioned  by  Mrs.  Pope,  for  she  once  showed  it  to 
me.  I  rather  think  she  was  fond  of  such  things;  and  had  a  plea 
sure  in  counting  her  hoards,  and  showing  them  to  other  persons. 
I  looked  over  her  coins ;  and  finding  she  was  fond  of  those  that 
are  a  little  uncommon,  I  gave  her  one  or  two  of  those  that  I  hap 
pened  to  own.  No  doubt,  Mrs.  Pope  saw  the  counterpart  of  this 
piece,  but  surely  not  the  piece  itself." 

"  I  understand  you  to  say,  then,  that  Mrs.  Goodwin  had  a  gold 
coin  similar  to  this,  which  gold  coin  came  from  yourself.  What 
did  Mrs.  Goodwin  allow  you  in  the  exchange?" 

"Sir?" 

"  How  much  did  you  estimate  the  value  of  that  Italian  piece 
at,  and  in  what  money  did  Mrs.  Goodwin  pay  you  for  it  ?  It  is 
necessary  to  be  particular  in  these  eases/' 

"  She  returned  me  nothing  for  the  coin,  sir.  It  was  a  present 
from  me  to  her,  and  of  course  not  to  be  paid  for." 

This  answer  met  with  but  little  favour.  It  did  not  appear  to 
the  people  of  Biberry  at  all  probable  that  an  unknown,  and 
seemingly  friendless  young  woman,  who  had  been  content  to 
dwell  two  months  in  the  "garret-room"  of  the  "old  Goodwin 
house,"  faring  none  of  the  best,  certainly,  and  neglecting  so 
many  superior  tenements  and  tables  that  were  to  be  met  with  on 
every  side  of  her,  would  be  very  likely  to  give  away  a  piece  of 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  75 

gold  of  that  unusual  size.  It  is  true,  we  are  living  in  a  mar 
vellous  age,  so  far  as  this  metal  is  concerned;  but  the  Californian 
gold  had  not  then  arrived  in  any  great  quantity,  and  the  people 
of  the  country  are  little  accustomed  to  see  anything  but  silver 
and  paper,  which  causes  them  to  attach  an  unwonted  value  to 
the  more  precious  metal.  Even  the  coroner  took  this  view  of 
the  matter;  and  Dunscomb  saw  that  the  explanation  just  made 
by  his  client  was  thought  to  prove  too  much. 

"Are  you  in  the  habit,  Miss,  of  giving  away  pieces  of  gold?" 
asked  one  of  the  jurors. 

"  That  question  is  improper,"  interposed  Mr.  Dunscomb.  "  No 
one  can  have  a  right  to  put  it." 

The  coroner  sustained  this  objection,  and  no  answer  was  given. 
As  Mrs.  Pope  had  suggested  that  others,  besides  herself,  had 
seen  Mrs.  Goodwin's  stocking,  four  more  witnesses  were  examined 
to  this  one  point.  They  were  all  females,  who  had  been  ad 
mitted  by  the  deceased,  in  the  indulgence  of  her  passion,  to  feast 
their  eyes  with  a  sight  of  her  treasure.  Only  one,  however,  of 
these  four  professed  to  have  any  recollection  of  the  particular 
coin  that  had  now  become,  as  it  might  be,  the  pivoting  point  in 
the  enquiry ;  and  her  recollections  were  by  no  means  as  clear  as 
those  of  the  widow.  She  thought  she  had  seen  such  a  piece  of 
gold  in  Mrs.  Goodwin's  possession,  though  she  admitted  she  was 
not  allowed  to  touch  any  of  the  money,  which  was  merely  held 
up,  piece  by  piece,  before  her  admiring  eyes,  in  the  hands  of  its 
proper  owner.  It  was  in  this  stage  of  the  enquiry  that  Duns- 
comb  remarked  to  the  coroner,  that  "  it  was  not  at  all  surprising 
a  woman  who  was  so  fond  of  exposing  her  treasure  should  be 
robbed  and  murdered !"  This  remark,  however,  failed  of  its  in 
tended  effect,  in  consequence  of  the  manner  in  which  suspicion 
had  become  riveted,  as  it  might  be,  through  the  testimony  of 
Mrs.  Pope,  on  the  stranger  who  had  so  mysteriously  come  to 
lodge  with  the  Goodwins.  The  general  impression  now  appeared 


78  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

to  be  that  the  whole  matter  had  been  previously  arranged,  and 
that  the  stranger  had  come  to  dwell  in  the  house  expressly  to 
obtain  facilities  for  the  commission  of  the  crime. 

A  witness  who  was  related  to  the  deceased,  who  was  absent 
from  home,  but  had  been  told,  by  means  of  the  wires,  to  return, 
and  who  had  intimated  an  intention  to  comply,  was  still  wanting ; 
and  the  inquest  was  again  adjourned  for  an  hour,  in  order  to 
allow  of  the  arrival  of  a  stage  from  town.  During  this  interval, 
Dunscomb  ascertained  how  strongly  the  current  was  setting 
against  his  client.  A  hundred  little  circumstances  were  cited,  in 
confirmation  of  suspicions  that  had  now  gained  a  firm  footing, 
and  which  were  so  nearly  general  as  to  include  almost  every  per 
son  of  any  consequence  in  the  place.  What  appeared  strangest 
to  Dunscomb,  was  the  composure  of  the  young  girl  who  was  so 
likely  to  be  formally  accused  of  crimes  so  heinous.  He  had  told 
her  of  the  nature  of  the  distrust  that  was  attached  to  her  situa 
tion,  and  she  received  his  statement  wit'h  a  degree  of  emotion 
that,  at  first,  had  alarmed  him.  But  an  unaccountable  calmness 
soon  succeeded  this  burst  of  feeling,  and  he  had  found  it  neces 
sary  to  draw  confidence  in  the  innocence  of  his  client,  from  that 
strangely  illuminated  countenance,  to  study  which  was  almost 
certain  to  subdue  a  man  by  its  power.  While  thus  gazing  at  the 
stranger,  he  could  not  believe  her  guilty ;  but,  while  reflecting 
on  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  he  saw  how  difficult  it  might  be  to 
persuade  others  to  entertain  the  same  opinion.  Nor  were  there 
circumstances  wanting  to  shake  his  own  faith  in  expression,  sex, 
years,  and  all  the  other  probabilities.  Mary  Monson  had  de 
clined  entering  at  all  into  any  account  of  her  previous  life  ;  evaded 
giving  her  real  name  even  to  him ;  carefully  abstained  from  all 
allusions  that  might  furnish  any  clue  to  her  former  place  of  abode, 
or  to  any  fact  that  would  tend  to  betray  her  secret. 

At  the  appointed  hour  the  stage  arrived,  bringing  the  expected 
witness.  His  testimony  went  merely  to  corroborate  the  accounts 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  77 

concerning  the  little  hoard  of  gold  that  his  kinswoman  had  unde 
niably  possessed,  and  to  the  circumstance  that  she  always  kept  it 
in  a  particular  drawer  of  her  bureau.  The  bureau  had  been  saved, 
for  it  did  not  stand  in  the  sleeping-room  of  the  deceased,  but  had 
formed  a  principal  embellishment  of  her  little  parlour,  and  the 
money  was  not  in  it.  What  was  more,  each  drawer  was  carefully 
locked,  but  no  keys  were  to  be  found.  As  these  were  articles 
not  likely  to  be  melted  under  any  heat  to  which  they  might  have 
been  exposed,  a  careful  but  fruitless  search  had  been  made  for 
them  among  the  ruins.  They  were  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

About  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  the  jury  brought  in  the 
result  of  their  inquest.  It  was  a  verdict  of  murder  in  the  first 
degree,  committed,  in  the  opinion  of  the  jurors,  by  a  female  who 
was  known  by  the  name  of  Mary  Monson.  With  the  accusation 
of  arson,  the  coroner's  inquest,  as  a  matter  of  course,  had  no 
connection.  A  writ  was  immediately  issued,  and  the  accused 
arrested. 


CHAPTER  V. 

"It  was  the  English,"  Kasper  cried, 

"Who  put  the  French  to  rout; 
But  what  they  killed  each  other  for, 

I  could  not  well  make  out. 
But  everybody  said,"  quoth  he, 
"That  'twas  a  famous  victory." 

Southey. 

THE  following  day,  after  an  early  breakfast,  Dunscomb  ind  his 
friend  the  doctor  were  on  their  way  back  to  town.  The  former 
had  clients  and  courts,  and  the  latter  patients,  who  were  not  to 
be  neglected,  to  say  nothing  of  the  claims  of  Sarah  and  Mrs. 
Updyke.  John  and  Michael  remained  at  Biberry ;  the  first  being 
detained  there  by  divers  commissions  connected  with  the  comforts 
and  treatment  of  Mary  Monson,  but  still  more  by  his  own  incli 
nations  ;  and  the  last  remaining,  somewhat  against  his  wishes,  as 
a  companion  to  the  brother  of  her  who  so  strongly  drew  him 
back  to  New  York. 

As  the  commitment  was  for  offences  so  serious,  crimes  as  grave 
as  any  known  to  the  law,  bail  would  not  have  been  accepted, 
could  any  have  been  found.  We  ought  not  to  speak  with  too 
much  confidence,  however,  on  this  last  point ;  for  Dr.  McBrain,  a 
man  of  very  handsome  estate,  the  result  of  a  liberal  profession 
steadily  and  intelligently  pursued,  was  more  than  half  disposed 
to  offer  himself  for  one  of  the  sureties,  and  to  go  and  find  a 
second  among  his  friends.  Nothing,  indeed,  prevented  his  doing 

(78) 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  79 

so,  but  Dunscomb' s  repeated  assurances  that  no  bondsmen  would 
be  received.  Even  charming  young  women,  when  they  stand 
charged  with  murder  and  arson,  must  submit  to  be  incarcerated, 
until  their  innocence  is  established  in  due  form  of  law ;  or,  what 
is  the  same  thing  in  effect,  until  the  caprice,  impulses,  ignorance, 
or  corruption  of  a  jury  acquits  them. 

The  friends  did  not  entirely  agree  in  their  manner  of  viewing 
this  affair.  The  doctor  was  firmly  impressed  with  the  conviction 
of  Mary  Monson's  innocence;  while  Dunscomb,  more  experienced 
in  the  ways  of  crime  and  the  infirmities  of  the  human  heart,  had 
his  misgivings.  So  many  grounds  of  suspicion  had  occurred,  or 
been  laid  open  to  his  observation,  during  the  hour  of  private 
communication,  that  it  was  not  easy  for  one  who  had  seen  so 
much  of  the  worst  side  of  human  nature,  to  cast  them  off  under 
Ahe  mere  influence  of  a  graceful  form,  winning  manner,  and 
bright  countenance.  Then,  the  secondary  facts,  well  established, 
and,  in  one  important  particular,  admitted  by  the  party  accused, 
were  not  of  a  character  to  be  overlooked.  It  often  happens,  and 
Dunscomb  well  knew  it,  that  innocence  appears  under  a  repulsive 
exterior,  while  guilt  conceals  itself  in  forms  and  aspects  so  fair, 
as  to  deceive  all  but  the  wary  and  experienced. 

"  I  hope  that  the  comfort  of  Miss  Monson  has  been  properly 
attended  to,  since  she  must  be  confined  for  a  few  days,"  said 
JMcBrain,  while  he  took  a  last  look  at  the  little  gaol,  as  the  car 
riage  passed  the  brow  of  a  hill.  "Justice  can  ask  no  more 
than  security." 

"  It  is  a  blot  on  the  character  of  the  times,  and  on  this  country 
in  particular,"  answered  Dunscomb,  coldly,  "that  so  little  atten 
tion  is  paid  to  the  gaols.  "We  are  crammed  with  false  philan 
thropy  in  connection  with  convicted  rogues,  who  ought  to  be 
made  to  feel  the  penalties  of  their  offences;  while  we  are  not  even 
just  in  regard  to  those  who  are  only  accused,  many  of  whom 
are  really  innocent.  But  for  my  interference,  this  delicate  and 


80  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

friendless  girl  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  immured,  in  a 
common  dungeon." 

"  What !  before  her  guilt  is  established  ?" 

"  Relatively,  her  treatment  after  conviction,  would  be  fa? 
more  humane  than  previously  to  that  event.  Comfortable,  well- 
furnished,  but  secure  apartments,  ought  to  be  provided  for  the 
accused  in  every  county  in  the  state,  as  acts  of  simple  justice, 
before  another  word  of  mawkish  humanity  is  uttered  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  treatment  of  recognised  criminals.  It  is  wonderful 
what  a  disposition  there  is  among  men  to  run  into  octaves,  in 
everything  they  do,  forgetting  that  your  true  melody  is  to  be 
found  only  in  the  simpler  and  more  natural  notes.  There  is  as 
much  of  the  falsetto,  now-a-days,  in  philanthropy,  as  in  music."* 

"  And  this  poor  girl  is  thrust  into  a  dungeon  ?" 

u  No ;  it  is  not  quite  as  bad  as  that.  The  gaol  has  one  decent 
apartment,  that  was  fitted  up  for  the  comfort  of  a  prize-fighter,,, 
who  was  confined  in  it  not  long  since ;  and  as  the  room  is  suffi 
ciently  secure,  I  have  persuaded  the  gaoler's  wife  to  put  Mary 
Monson  in  it.  Apart  from  loss  of  air  and  exercise,  and  the  hap 
piness  of  knowing  herself  respected  and  beloved,  the  girl  will  not 
be  very  badly  off  there.  I  dare,  say,  the  room  is  quite  as  good  as 
that  she  occupied  under  the  roof  of  those  unfortunate  Goodwins." 

"  How  strange,  that  a  female  of  her  appearance  should  have 
been  the  inmate  of  such  a  place !  She  does  not  seem  to  want 
money,  either.  You  saw  the  gold  she  had  in  her  purse  ?" 

"  Ay ;  it  were  better  had  that  gold  not  been  there,  or  not  seen. 
I  sincerely  wish  it  had  been  nothing  but  silver." 

"  You  surely  do  not  agree  with  that  silly  woman,  the  Widow 
Pope,  as  they  call  her,  in  believing  that  she  has  got  the  money 
of  those  persons  who  have  been  murdered?" 

"On  that  subject,  I  choose  to  suspend  my  opinion  — I  may, 
or  I  may  not;  as  matters  shall  turn  up.  She  has  money; 
and  in  sufficient  quantity  to  buy  herself  out  of  jeopardy  At 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  81 

least,  she  offered  me  a  fee  of  a  hundred  dollars,  in  good  city 
paper" 

"  Which  you  did  not  take,  Tom?" 

"  Why  not  ?  It  is  my  trade,  and  I  live  by  it.  Why  not  take 
her  fee,  if  you  please,  sir  ?  Does  the  Widow  Updyke  teach  you 
such  doctrines  ?  Will  you  drive  about  town  for  nothing  ?  Why 
not  take  her  fee,  Master  Ned?" 

"Why  not,  sure  enough!  That  girl  has  bewitched  me,  I 
believe;  and  that  is  the  solution." 

"  I  '11  tell  you  what,  Ned,  unless  there  is  a  stop  put  to  this 
folly,  I  '11  make  Mrs.  Updyke  acquainted  with  the  whole  matter, 
and  put  an  end  to  nuptials  No.  3.  Jack  is  head  and  ears  in  love, 
already ;  and  here  you  are  flying  off  at  a  tangent  from  all  your 
engagements  and  professions,  to  fall  at  the  feet  of  an  unknown 
girl  of  twenty,  who  appears  before  you,  on  a  first  interview,  hi 
the  amiable  light  of  one  accused  of  the  highest  crimes." 

"  And  of  which  I  no  more  believe  her  guilty,  than  I  believe 
you  to  be  guilty  of  them." 

u  Umph !  t  Time  will  show ;'  which  is  the  English,  I  suppose, 
of  the  'nous  verrons,'  that  is  flying  about  in  the  newspapers. 
Yes,  she  has  money  to  buy  three  or  four  journals,  to  get  up  a 
*  sympathy'  in  her  behalf;  when  her  acquittal  would  be  almost 
certain,  if  her  trial  were  not  a  legal  impossibility.  I  am  not  sure 
it  is  not  her  safest  course,  in  the  actual  state  of  the  facts." 

"  Would  you  think,  Dunscomb,  of  advising  any  one  who  looked 
up  to  you  for  counsel,  to  take  such  a  course  ?" 

"  Certainly  not  —  and  you  know  it,  well  enough,  McBrain ; 
but  that  does  not  lessen,  or  increase,  the  chances  of  the  expedient. 
The  journals  have  greatly  weakened  their  own  power,  by  the 
manner  in  which  they  have  abused  it;  but  enough  still  remains 
to  hoodwink,  not  to  say  to  overshadow,  justice.  The  law  is  very 
explicit  and  far-sighted  as  to  the  consequences  of  allowing  any  one 
to  influence  the  public  mind  in  matters  of  its  own  administration ; 

4* 


82  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

but  in  a  country  like  this,  in  which  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of 
the  people  are  said  to  be  the  primum  mobile  in  everything,  there 
is  no  one  to  enforce  the  ordinances  that  the  wisdom  of  our  ances 
tors  has  bequeathed  to  us.  Any  editor  of  a  newspaper  who  pub 
lishes  a  sentence  reflecting  on  the  character  or  rights  of  a  party 
to  a  pending  suit,  is  guilty,  at  common  law,  of  what  the  books 
call  a  <  libel  on  the  courts  of  justice/  and  can  be  punished  for  it, 
as  for  any  other  misdemeanor ;  yet,  you  can  see  for  yourself,  how 
little  such  a  provision,  healthful  and  most  wise  —  nay,  essential 
as  it  is  to  justice — is  looked  down  by  the  mania  which  exists,  of 
putting  everything  into  print.  When  one  remembers  that  very 
little  of  what  he  reads  is  true,  it  is  fearful  to  reflect  that  a  system, 
of  which  the  whole  merit  depends  on  its  power  to  extract  facts, 
and  to  do  justice  on  their  warranty,  should  be  completely  over 
shadowed  by  another  contrivance  which,  when  stripped  of  its 
pretension,  and  regarded  in  its  real  colours,  is  nothing  more  than 
one  of  the  ten  thousand  schemes  to  make  money  that  surround 
us,  with  a  little  higher  pretension  than  common  to  virtue." 

"  ( Completely  overshadowed'  are  strong  words,  Dunscomb  !" 

"Perhaps  they  are,  and  they  may  need  a  little  qualifying. 
Overshadowed  often — much  too  often,  however,  is  not  a  particle 
stronger  than  I  am  justified  in  using.  Every  one,  who  thinks  at 
all,  sees  and  feels  the  truth  of  this ;  but  here  is  the  weak  side 
of  a  popular  government.  The  laws  are  enforced  by  means  of 
public  virtue,  and  public  virtue,  like  private  virtue,  is  very  frail. 
We  all  are  willing  enough  to  admit  the  last,  as  regards  our 
neighbours  at  least,  while  there  seems  to  exist,  in  most  minds,  a 
species  of  idolatrous  veneration  for  the  common  sentiment,  as 
sheer  a  quality  of  straw,  as  any  image  of  a  lover  drawn  by  the 
most  heated  imagination  of  sixteen." 

"  You  surely  do  not  disregard  public  opinion,  Tom,  or  set  it 
down  as  unworthy  of  all  respect  I" 

"  By  no  means ;  if  you  mean  that  opinion  which  is  the  result 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  83 

of  deliberate  judgment,  and  lias  a  direct  connection  with  our  reli 
gion,  morals,  and  manners.  That  is  a  public  opinion  to  which 
we  all  ought  to  defer,  when  it  is  fairly  made  up,  and  has  been 
distinctly  and  independently  pronounced ;  most  especially  when 
it  comes  from  high  quarters,  and  not  from  low.  But  the  country 
is  full  of  simulated  public  opinion,  in  the  first  place,  and  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  tell  the  false  from  the  true.  Yes,  the  country  is 
full  of  what  I  shall  call  an  artificial  public  opinion,  that  has  been 
got  up  to  effect  a  purpose,  and  to  that  no  wise  man  will  defer,  if 
he  can  help  it.  Now^  look  at  our  scheme  of  administering  jus 
tice.  Twelve  men  taken  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  community, 
by  a  species  of  lottery,  are  set  apart  to  pronounce  on  your  for 
tune,  or  mine  —  nay,  to  utter  the  fearful  words  of  { guilty/  or 
4  not  guilty.'  .  All  the  accessaries  of  this  plan,  as  they  exist  here, 
make  against  its  success.  In  the  first  place,  the  jurors  are  paid, 
and  that  just  enough  to  induce  the  humblest  on  the  list  to  serve, 
and  not  enough  to  induce  the  educated  and  intelligent.  It  is  a 
day-labourer's  wages,  and  the  day-labourer  will  be  most  likely  to 
profit  by  it.  Men  who  are  content  to  toil  for  seventy-five  cents 
a  day  are  very  willing  to  serve  on  juries  for  a  dollar ;  while  those 
whose  qualifications  enable  them  to  obtain  enough  to  pay  their 
fines,  disregard  the  penalty,  and  stay  away." 

i i  Why  is  not  an  evil  as  flagrant  as  this  remedied  ?  I  should 
think  the  whole  bar  would  protest  against  it.-' 

"With  what  result?  Who  cares  for  the  bar?  Legislators 
alone  can  change  this  system,  and  men  very  different  from  those 
who  are  now  sent  must  go  to  the  legislature,  before  one  is  found, 
honest  enough,  or  bold  enough,  to  get  up  and  tell  the  people 
they  are  not  all  fit  to  be  trusted.  No,  no ;  this  is  not  the  way 
of  the  hour.  We  have  a  cycle  in  opinion  to  make,  and  it  may 
be  that  when  the  round  is  fairly  made,  men  may  come  back  to 
their  senses,  and  perceive  the  necessity  of  fencing  in  justice  by 
•ome  of  the  useful  provisions  that  we  are  now  so  liberally  throw- 


84  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

ing  away.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  Ned,  the  state  is  submitting  if* 
the  influence  of  two  of  the  silliest  motives  that  can  govern  men  — 
ultra  conservatism,  and  ultra  progress;  the  one  holding  back, 
often,  to  preserve  that  which  is  not  worth  keeping ;  and  the  other 
'  going  ahead/  as  it  is  termed,  merely  for  the  sake  of  boasting 
of  their  onward  tendencies.  Neither  course  is  in  the  least  suited 
to  the  actual  wants  of  society,  and  each  is  pernicious  in  its  way/' 

"It  is  thought,  however,  that  when  opinion  thus  struggles 
with  opinion,  a  healthful  compromise  is  made,  in  which  society 
finds  its  advantage." 

"  The  cant  of  mediocrity,  depend  on  it,  Ned,  In  the  first  place, 
there  is  no  compromise  about  it ;  one  side  or  the  other  gains  the 
victory ;  and  as  success  is  sustained  by  numbers,  the  conquerors 
push  their  advantages  to  the  utmost.  They  think  of  their  own 
grosser  interests,  their  passions  and  prejudices,  rather  than  of  any 
'  healthful  compromise/  as  you  term  it.  What  compromise  is  there 
in  this  infernal  code  ?" — Dunseomb  was  an  ultra  himself,  in  oppo 
sition  to  a  system  that  has  a  good  deal  of  that  which  is  usefulr. 
diluted  by  more  that  is  not  quite  so  good  —  "  or  what  in  this 
matter  of  the  election  of  judges  by  the  people  ?  As  respects  the 
last,  for  instance,  had  the  tenure  of  office  been  made  '  good  be 
haviour/  there  would  have  been  something  like  a  compromise  f 
but,  no  —  the  conquerors  took  all ;  and  what  is  worse,  the  con 
querors  were  actually  a  minority  of  the  voters,  so  easy  is  it 
to  cow  even  numbers  by  political  chicanery.  In  this  respect, 
democracy  is  no  more  infallible,  than  any  other  form  of  govern 
ment." 

"  I  confess,  I  do  not  see  how  this  is  shown,  since  the  polls  were 
free  to  every  citizen." 

"  The  result  fairly  proves  it.  Less  than  half  of  the  known 
number  of  the  electors  voted  for  the  change.  Now,  it  is  absurd 
to  suppose  that  men  who  really  and  affirmatively  wished  a  new 
institution  would  stay  away  from  the  polls." 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  85 

"More  so,  than  to  suppose  that  they  who  did  not  wish  it, 
would  stay  away,  too?" 

"  More  so ;  and  for  this  reason.  Thousands  fancied  it  useless 
to  stem  the  current  of  what  they  fancied  a  popular  movement, 
and  were  passive  in  the  matter.  Any  man,  of  an  extensive 
acquaintance,  may  easily  count  a  hundred  such  idlers.  Then  a 
good  many  stood  on  their  legal  rights,  and  refused  to  vote,  be 
cause  the  manner  of  producing  the  change  was  a  palpable  viola 
tion  of  a  previous  contract ;  the  old  constitution  pointing  out  the 
manner  in  which  the  instrument  could  be  altered,  which  was  not 
the  mode  adopted.  Then  tens  of  thousands  voted  for  the  new 
constitution,  who  did  not  know  anything  about  it.  They  loved 
change,  and  voted  for  change's  sake;  and,  possibly,  with  some 
vague  notion  that  they  were  to  be  benefited  by  making  the  insti 
tutions  as  popular  as  possible/' 

"And  is  not  this  the  truth  ?  Will  not  the  mass  be  all  the 
better  off,  by  exercising  as  much  power  as  they  can  ?" 

"  No ;  and  for  the  simple  reason  that  masses  cannot,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  exercise  more  than  a  very  limited  power.  You, 
yourself,  for  instance,  one  of  the  mass,  cannot  exercise  this  very 
power  of  choosing  a  judge,  as  it  ought  to  be  exercised,  and  of 
course  are  liable  to  do  more  harm  than  good." 

"•The  deuce  I  cannot !  Why  is  not  my  vote  as  good  as  your 
own  ?  or  that  of  any  other  man  ?" 

"  For  the  simple  reason,  that  you  are  ignorant  of  the  whole 
matter.  Ask  yourself  the  question,  and  answer  it  like  an  honest 
man  :  would  you  —  could  you,  with  the  knowledge  you  possess, 
lay  your  finger  on  any  man  in  this  community,  and  say,  '  I  make 
you  a  judge  V  " 

"  Yes ;  my  finger  would  be  laid  on  you,  in  a  minute/' 

"  Ah,  Ned,  that  will  do,  as  a  friend ;  but  how  would  it  do  as 
a  jadicious  selection  of  a  judge  you  do  not  know?  You  are 
ignorant  of  the  law,  and  must  necessarily  be  ignorant  of  the 


86  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

qualifications  of  any  particular  person  to  be  an  interpreter  of  it. 
What  is  true  of  you,  is  equally  true  of  a  vast  majority  of  those 
who  are  now  the  electors  of  our  judges." 

"  I  ani  not  a  little  surprised,  Tom,  to  hear  you  talk  in  this 
way;  for  you  profess  to  be  a  democrat!" 

"  To  the  extent  of  giving  the  people  all  power,  in  the  last 
resort  —  all  power  that  they  can  intelligently  and  usefully  use ; 
but  not  to  the  extent  of  permitting  them  to  make  the  laws,  to 
execute  the  laws,  and  to  interpret  the  laws.  All  that  the  people 
want,  is  sufficient  power  to  secure  their  liberties,  which  is  simply 
such  a  state  of  things  as  shall  secure  what  is  right  between  man 
and  man.  Now,  it  is  the  want  of  this  all-important  security,  in 
a  practical  point  of  view,  of  which  I  complain.  Rely  on  it,  Ned, 
the  people  gain  nothing  by  exercising  an  authority  that  they  do 
not  know  how  to  turn  to  good  account.  It  were  far  better  for 
them,  and  for  the  state,  to  confine  themselves  .to  the  choice  of 
general  agents,  of  whose  characters  they  may  know  something, 
and  then  confide  all  other  powers  to  servants  appointed  by  those 
named  by  these  agents,  holding  all  alike  to  a  rigid  responsibility. 
As  for  the  judges,  they  will  soon  take  decided  party  characters ; 
and  men  will  as  blindly  accuse,  and  as  blindly  defend  them, 
as  they  now  do  their  other  leading  partisans.  What  between 
the  bench  and  the  jury-box,  we  shall  shortly  enjoy  a  legal  pan 
demonium  ." 

"  Yet  there  are  those  who  think  the  trial  by  jury  is  the  palla 
dium  of  our  liberties." 

Dunscomb  laughed  outright,  for  he  recollected  his  conversa 
tion  with  the  young  men,  which  we  have  already  related.  Then 
suppressing  his  risible  propensity,  he  continued  gravely — 

"  Yes,  one  or  two  papers,  well  fee'd  by  this  young  woman's 
spare  cash,  might  do  her  more  good  than  any  service  I  can  ren 
der  her.  I  dare  say  the  accounts  now  published,  or  soon  to  be 
published,  will  leave  a  strong  bias  against  her." 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  87 

"  Why  not  fee  a  reporter  as  well  as  a  lawyer,  eh,  Tom  ?  There 
is  no  great  difference,  as  I  can  see." 

"  Yes  you  can;  and  will,  too,  as  soon  as  you  look  into  the 
matter.  A  lawyer  is  paid  for  a  known  and  authorized  assistance, 
and  the  public  recognises  in  him  one  engaged  in  the  interests  of 
his  client,  and  accepts  his  statements  and  efforts  accordingly. 
But  the  conductor  of  a  public  journal  sets  up  a  claim  to  strict 
impartiality,  in  his  very  profession,  and  should  tell  nothing  but 
what  he  believes  to  be  true,  neither  inventing  nor  suppressing.  In 
his  facts,  he  is  merely  the  publisher  of  a  record  j  in  his  reason 
ing,  a  judge ;  hot  an  advocate." 

The  doctor  now  laughed,  in  his  turn,  and  well  he  might ;  few 
men  being  BO  ignorant  as  not  to  understand  how  far  removed 
from  all  this  are  most  of  those  who  control  the  public  journals. 

"  After  all,  it  is  a  tremendous  power  to  confide  to  irresponsible 
men  I"  he  exclaimed. 

"  That  it  is,  and  there  is  nothing  among  us  that  so  completely 
demonstrates  how  far,  very  far,  the  public  mind  is  in  the  rear  of 
the  facts  of  the  country,  than  the  blind,  reckless  manner  in 
which  the  press  is  permitted  to  tyrannize  over  the  community,  in 
the  midst  of  all  our  hosannas  to  the  Goddess  of  Liberty.  Be 
cause,  forsooth,  what  is  termed  a  free  press  is  useful,  and  has 
been  useful  in  curbing  an  irresponsible,  hereditary  power,  in 
other  lands,  we  are  just  stupid  enough  to  think  it  is  of  equal 
importance  here,  where  no  such  power  exists,  and  where  all  that 
remains  to  be  done,  is  to  strictly  maintain  the  equal  rights  of  all 
classes  of  citizens.  Did  we  understand  ourselves,  and  our  own 
real  wants,  not  a  paper  should  be  printed  in  the  state,  that  did 
not  make  a  deposit  to  meet  the  legal  penalties  it  might  incur  by 
the  abuse  of  its  trust.  This  is  or  was  done  in  France,  the  country 
of  all  others  that  best  respects  equality  of  rights  in  theory,  if  not 
in  practice  !" 

"  You  surely  would  not  place  restrictions  on  the  press !" 


88  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"I  would  though,  and  very  severe  restrictions,  as  salutary 
checks  on  the  immense  power  it  wields.  I  would,  for  instance, 
forbid  the  publication  of  any  statement  whatever,  touching  par 
ties  in  the  courts,  whether  in  civil  or  criminal  cases,  pending  the 
actions,  that  the  public  mind  might  not  be  tainted,  by  design. 
Give  the  right  to  publish,  and  it  will  be,  and  is  abused,  and  that 
most  flagrantly,  to  meet  the  wishes  of  corruption.  I  tell  you, 
Ned,  as  soon  as  you  make  a  trade  of  news,  you  create  a  stock 
market  that  will  have  its  rise  and  fall,  under  the  impulses  of  fear, 
falsehood,  and  favour,  just  like  your  money  transactions.  It  is 
a  pei-version  of  the  nature  of  things,  to  make  of  news  more  than 
a  simple  statement  of  what  has  actually  occurred/ J 

"  It  is  surely  natural  to  lie  !" 

"  That  is  it,  and  this  is  the  very  reason  we  should  not  throw 
extraordinary  protection  around  a  thousand  tongues  which  speak 
by  means  of  types,  that  we  do  not  give  to  the  natural  member. 
The  lie  that  is  told  by  the  press  is  ten  thousand  times  a  lie,  in 
comparison  with  that  which  issues  from  the  mouth  of  man." 

"  By  George,  Tom,  if  I  had  your  views,  I  would  see  that  some 
of  this  strange  young  woman's  money  should  be  used  in  sustain 
ing  her,  by  means  of  the  agents  you  mention  !" 

"  That  would  never  do.  This  is  one  of  the  cases  in  which 
'want  of  principle'  has  an  ascendancy  over  'principle.'  The 
upright  man  cannot  consent  to  use  improper  instruments,  while 
the  dishonest  fellows  seize  on  them  with  avidity.  So  much  the 
greater,  therefore,  is  the  necessity  for  the  law's  watching  the 
interests  of  the  first  with  the  utmost  jealousy.  But,  unfortu 
nately,  we  run  away  with  the  sound,  and  overlook  the  sense  of 
things." 

We  have  related  this  conversation  at  a  length  which  a  certain 
class  of  our  readers  will  probably  find  tedious,  but  it  is  necessary 
to  a  right  comprehension  of  various  features  in  the  picture  we 
we  about  to  draw.  At  the  Stag's  Head  the  friends  stopped  to 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  <& 

let  the  horses  blow,  and,  while  the  animals  were  cooling  them 
selves  under  the  care  of  Stephen  Hoof,  McBrain's  coachman,  the 
gentlemen  took  a  short  walk  in  the  hamlet.  At  several  points, 
as  they  mDved  along,  they  overheard  the  subject  of  the  murders 
alluded  to,  and  saw  divers  newspapers,  in  the  hands  of  sundry 
individuals,  who  were  eagerly  perusing  accounts  of  the  same 
events ;  sometimes  by  themselves,  but  oftener  to  groups  of  atten 
tive  listeners.  The  travellers  were  now  so  near  town  as  to  be 
completely  within  its  moral,  not  to  say  physical,  atmosphere  — 
being  little  more  than  a  suburb  of  New  York.  On  their  return 
to  the  inn,  the  doctor  stopped  under  the  shed  to  look  at  his 
horses,  before  Stephen  checked  them  up  again,  previously  to  a 
fresh  start.  Stephen  was  neither  an  Irishman  nor  a  black  ]  but 
a  regular,  old-fashioned,  Manhattannese  coachman ;  a  class  apart, 
and  of  whom,  in  the  confusion  of  tongues  that  pervades  that 
modern  Babel,  a  few  still  remain,  like  monuments  of  the  past, 
scattered  along  the  Appian  Way. 

"How  do  your  horses  stand  the  heat,  Stephen ?"  the  doctor 
kindly  enquired,  always  speaking  of  the  beasts  as  if  they  were 
the  property  of  the  coachman,  and  not  of  himself.  "  Pill  looks 
as  if  he  had  been  well  warmed  this  morning." 

"  Yes,  sir,  he  takes  it  somewhat  hotter  than  Poleus,  in  the 
spring  of  the  year,  as  a  gineral  thing.  Pill  vill  vork  famously, 
if  a  body  vill  only  give  him  his  feed  in  vhat  I  calls  a  genteel 
vay ;  but  them  'ere  country  taverns  has  nothing  nice  about  'em, 
not  even  a  clean  manger ;  and  a  town  horse  that  is  accustomed 
to  a  sweet  stable  and  proper  company,  won't  stand  up  to  the  rack 
as  he  should  do,  in  one  of  their  holes.  Now,  Poleus  I  calls  a 
gineral  feeder ;  it  makes  no  matter  vith  him  vhether  he  is  at 
home,  or  out  on  a  farm  —  he  finishes  his  oats ;  but  it  is  n't  so 
vith  Pill,  sir  —  his  stomach  is  delicate,  and  the  horse  that  don't 
get  his  proper  food  vill  sweat,  summer  or  vinter." 

"  I  sometimes  think,  Stephen,  it  might 'be  better  to  take  them 


90  THE   WAYS   OF    THE    HOUR. 

both  off  their  oats  for  a  few  days,  and  let  blood,  perhaps ;  they  say 
that  the  fleam  is  as  good  for  a  horse  as  the  lancet  is  for  a  man." 

"  Do  n't  think  on't,  sir,  I  beg  of  you !  I  'm  sure  they  has 
doctor-stuff  in  their  names,  not  to  crowd  'em  down  vith  any 
more,  jist  as  varm  veather  is  a  settin'  in.  Oats  is  physic  enough 
for  a  horse,  and  vhen  the  creaturs  vants  anything  more,  sir,  jist 
leave  'em  to  me.  I  knows  as  peculiar  a  drench  as  ever  vas 
poured  down  a  vheeler's  throat,  vithout  troublin'  that  academy 
in  Barclay  street,  vhere  so  many  gentlemen  goes  two  or  three 
times  a  veek,  and  vhere  they  do  say,  so  many  goes  in  as  never 
comes  out  whole." 

"  Well,  Stephen,  I  '11  not  interfere  with  your  treatment,  for  I 
confess  to  very  little  knowledge  of  the  diseases  of  horses.  What 
have  you  got  in  the  paper  there,  that  I  see  you  have  been 
reading?" 

"  Yhy,  sir,"  answered  Stephen,  scratching  his  head,  "  it 's  all 
about  our  affair,  up  yonder." 

u  Our  affair !  Oh  !  you  mean  the  inquest,  and  the  murder. 
Well,  what  does  the  paper  say  about  it,  Hoof?" 

"  It  says  it 's  a  most  c  thrilling  a'count,'  sir,  and  an  '  awful 
tragedy' ;  and  it  venders  vhat  young  vomen  is  a  coming  to,  next. 
I  am  pretty  much  of  the  same  vay  of  thinking,  sir,  myself." 

"  You  are  in  the  habit  of  thinking  very  much  as  the  news 
papers  do,  are  you  not,  Stephen  ?"  asked  Dunscomb. 

"Veil,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  you've  hit  it!  There  is  an  onac- 
countable  resemblance,  like,  in  our  thoughts.  I  hardly  ever  set 
down  to  read  a  paper,  that,  afore  I  've  got  half  vay  through  it,  I 
find  it  thinking  just  as  I  do !  It  puzzles  me  to  know  how  them 
that  writes  for  these  papers  finds  out  a  body's  thoughts  so  veil !" 

"  They  have  a  way  of  doing  it ;  but  it  is  too  long  a  story  to  go 
over  now.  So  this  paper  has  something  to  say  about  our  young 
woman,  has  it,  Stephen  ?  and  it  mentions  the  Biberry  business  ?" 

"A  good  deal,  'Squire;   and  vhat  I  calls  good  sense,  too. 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  91 

Vhy,  gentlemen,  vhat  shall  we  all  come  to,  if  young  gals  of 
fifteen  can  knock  us  in  the  head,  matched,  like,  or  in  pairs,  killing 
a  whole  team  at  one  blow,  and  then  set  fire  to  the  stables,  and 
burn  us  up  to  our  anatomies?" 

"  Fifteen !  Does  your  account  say  that  Miss  Monson  is  only 
fifteen,  Hoof?" 

" '  She  appears  to  be  of  tlis  tender  age  cf  fifteen,  and  is  of 
extr 'ornary  personal  attractions/  Them  's  the  werry  vords,  sir ; 
but  perhaps  you'd  like  to  read  it  yourselves,  gentlemen  ?" 

As  Stephen  made  this  remark,  -he  very  civilly  offered  the 
journal  to  Dunscomb,  who  took  it ;  but  was  not  disposed  to  drop 
the  conversation  just  then  to  read  it,  though  his  eye  did  glance 
at  the  article,  as  he  continued  the  subject.  This  was  a  habit 
with  him ;  his  clerks  often  saying,  he  could  carry  the  chains  of 
arguments  of  two  subjects  in  his  mind  at  the  same  moment.  His 
present  object,  was  to  ascertain  from  this  man  what  might  be  the 
popular  feeling  in  regard  to  his  client,  at  the  place  they  had  just 
left,  and  the  scene  of  the  events  themselves. 

"What  is  thought  and  said,  at  Biberry,  among  those  with 
whom  you  talked,  Stephen,  concerning  this  matter?" 

"That  it's  a  most  awful  ewent,  'Squire!  One  of  the  werry 
vorst  that  has  happened  in  these  werry  vicked  times,  sir.  I  heard 
one  gentleman  go  over  all  the  murders  that  has  taken  place  about 
York  during  these  last  ten  years,  and  a  perdigious  sight  on  'em 
there  vas ;  so  many,  that  I  began  to  vonder  I  vas  n't  one  of  the 
wictims  myself;  but  he  counted  'em  off  on  his  fingers,  and  made 
this  out  to  be  one  of  the  werfy  vorst  of  'em  all,  sir.  He  did, 
indeed,  sir." 

"  Was  he  a  reporter,  Stephen  ?  one  of  the  persons  who  are 
sent  out  by  the  papers  to  collect  news  ?" 

"  I  believe  he  vas,  sir.  Quite  a  gentleman ;  and  vith  some 
thing  to  say  to  all  he  met.  He  often  came  out  to  the  stables, 
and  had  a  long  conwersation  vith  as  poor  a  feller  as  I  be." 


92  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"Pray,  what  could  he  have  to  say  to  you,  Stephen T'  da 
manded  the  doctor,  a  little  gravely. 

"  Oh  !  lots  of  things,  sir.  He  began  by  praising  the  horses, 
and  asking  their  names.  I  give  him  my  names,  sir,  not  yourn 
for  I  thought  he  might  get  it  into  print,  somehow,  that  Dr 
McBrain  calls  his  coach-horses  after  his  physic,  Pill  and  Poleus" 
— "Bolus,"  was  the  real  appellation  that  the  owner  had  been 
pleased  to  give  this  beast;  but  as  Stephen  fancied  the  word  had 
some  connection  with  "  pole-horse/'  he  chose  to  pronounce  it  as 
written — "  Yes,  I  did  n't  vish  your  names  to  get  into  the  papers, 
sir;  and  so  I  told  him  'Pill'  vas  called  ' Marygoold/  and 
'Poleus/  'Dandelion.'  He  promised  an  article  about  'em,  sir; 
and  I  give  him  the  ages,  blood,  sires,  and  dams,  of  both  the 
beauties.  He  told  me  he  thought  the  names  delightful;  and 
I  'm  in  hopes,  sir,  you  '11  give  up  yourn,  arter  all,  and  take  to 
mine,  altogether." 

"  We  shall  see.     And  he  promised  an  article,  did  he  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  quite  woluntary.  I  know'd  that  the  horses  could  n't 
be  outdone,  and  told  him  as  much  as  that;  for  I  thought,  as  the 
subject  vas  up,  it  might  be  as  veil  to  do  'em  all  the  credit  I 
could.  Perhaps,  vhen  they  gets  to  "be  too  old  for  vork,  you 
might  vish  to  part  vith  'em,  sir,  and  then  a  good  newspaper 
character  could  do  'em  no  great  harm." 

Stephen  was  a  particularly  honest  fellow,  as  to  things  in  gene 
ral;  but  he  had  the  infirmity  which  seems  to  be  so  general  among 
men,  that  of  a  propensity  to  cheat  in  a  transfer  of  horse-flesh. 
Dunscomb  was  amused  at  this  exhibition  of  character,  of  which 
he  had  seen  so  much  in  his  day,  and  felt  disposed  to  follow  it  up. 

"I  believe  you  had  some  difficulty  in  choosing  one  of  the 
horses,  Stephen"  —  McBrain  commissioned  his  coachman  to  do 
all  the  bargaining  of  this  sort,  and  had  never  lost  a  cent  by  his 
confidence  —  "Pill,  I  think  it  was,  that  didn't  bring  as  good  a 
character  as  he  might  have  done?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  93 

"Beg  your  pardon,  '  Squire,  'twas  n't  he,  but  Marygoold. 
Vhy,  the  thing  vas  this :  a  gentleman  of  the  church  had  bought 
Marygoold  to  go  in  a  buggy ;  but  soon  vanted  to  part  vith  him, 
'cause  of  his  shyin'  in  single  harness,  vhich  frightened  his  vife, 
as  he  said.  Now,  all  the  difficulty  vas  in  this  one  thing :  not 
that  I  cared  at  all  about  the  creatur's  shyin',  vhich  vas  no  great 
matter  in  double  harness,  you  know,  sir,  and  a  body  could  soon 
coax  him  out  of  the  notion  on  it,  by  judgematical  drivin' ;  but 
the  difficulty  vas  here  —  if  the  owner  of  a  horse  owned  so  much 
ag'in  his  character,  there  must  be  a  great  deal  behind,  that  a 
feller  must  find  out  as  veil  as  he  could.  I  've  know'd  a  foun 
dered  animal  put  off  under  a  character  for  shyin'." 

u  And  the  owner  a  clergyman,  Stephen?" 

"  Perhaps  not,  sir.  But  it  makes  no  great  matter  in  tradin' 
horses;  church  and  the  vorld  is  much  of  a  muchness." 

"  Did  that  reporting  gentleman  ask  any  questions  concerning 
the  owner,  as  well  as  concerning  the  horses?" 

"  Vhy,  yes,  sir ;  vhen  he  vas  done  vith  the  animals,  he  did 
make  a  few  obserwations  about  the  doctor.  He  vanted  to  know 
if  he  vas  married  yet,  and  vhen  it  vas  to  happen ;  and  how  much 
I  thought  he  might  be  vorth,  and  how  much  Mrs.  Updyke  vas 
counted  for;  and  if  there  vas  children;  and  vhich  house  the 
family  vas  to  live  in ;  and  vhere  he  should  keep  the  slate,  arter 
the  veddin'  had  come  off;  and  how  much  the  doctor's  practice 
vas  vorth ;  and  vhether  he  vas  vhig  or  locy ;  and,  most  of  all,  he 
vanted  to  know  vhy  he  and  you,  sir,  should  go  to  Biberry  about 
this  murder." 

"What  did  you  tell  him,  Stephen,  in  reference  to  the  last?" 

"  Vhat  could  I,  sir  ?  I  don't  know,  myself.  I  've  druv'  the 
doctor  often  and  often  to  see  them  that  has  died  soon  arter  our 
wisit;  but  I  never  druv'  him,  afore,  to  wisit  the  doad.  That 
gentleman  seemed  to  think  he  vas  much  mistaken  about  the 
skeletons;  but  it's  all  in  the  paper,  sir." 


94  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

On  hearing  this,  Dunscomb  quickly  turned  to  the  columns  of 
the  journal  again,  and  was  soon  reading  their  contents  aloud  to 
his  friend ;  in  the  meantime,  Stephen  set  Marygoold  and  Dan 
delion  in  motion  once  more. 

The  account  was  much  as  Dunscomb  expected  to  find  Jt ;  so 
written  as  to  do  no  possible  good,  while  it  might  do  a  great  deal 
of  harm.  The  intention  was  to  feed  a  morbid  feeling  in  the  vul 
gar  for  exaggerated  accounts  of  the  shocking  —  the  motive  being 
gain.  Anything  that  would  sell,  was  grist  for  this  mill ;  and  the 
more  marvellous  and  terrible  the  history  of  the  event  could  be 
made,  the  greater  was  the  success  likely  to  be.  The  allusions  to 
Mary  Monson  were  managed  with  a  good  deal  of  address ;  for, 
while  there  was  a  seeming  respect  for  her  rights,  the  reader  was 
left  to  infer  that  her  guilt  was  not  only  beyond  a  question,  but 
of  the  darkest  dye.  It  was  while  reading  and  commenting  on 
these  articles,  that  the  carriage  entered  Broadway,  and  soon  set 
Dunscomb  down  at  his  own  door.  There  the  doctor  left  it; 
choosing  to  walk  as  far  as  Mrs.  Updyke's,  rather  than  give 
Stephen  more  materials  for  the  reporter. 


CHAPTER  VI 

•*Then  none  was  for  a  party; 

Then  all  were  for  the  state; 
Then  the  great  man  help'd  the  poof, 
And  the  poor  man  lov'd  the  great: 
Then  lands  were  fairly  portion'd; 

Then  spoils  were  fairly  sold ; 
The  Romans  were  like  brothers 
In  the  brave  days  of  old." 

Macaulay. 

IT  has  been  said  that  John  Wilmeter  was  left  by  his  uncle  at 
Biberry,  to  look  after  the  welfare  of  their  strange  client.  John, 
or  Jack,  as  he  was  commonly  called  by  his  familiars,  including 
his  pretty  sister,  was  in  the  main  a  very  good  fellow,  though  far 
from  being  free  from  the  infirmities  to  which  the  male  portion 
of  the  human  family  are  subject,  when  under  the  age  of  thirty. 
He  was  frank,  manly,  generous,  disposed  to  think  for  himself, 
and  what  is  somewhat  unusual  with  his  countrymen,  of  a  tem 
perament  that  led  him  to  make  up  his  mind  suddenly,  and  was 
not  to  be  easily  swayed  by  the  notions  that  might  be  momentarily 
floating  about  in  the  neighbourhood.  Perhaps  a  little  of  a  spirit 
of  opposition  to  the  feeling  that  was  so  rapidly  gaining  head  in 
Biberry,  inclined  him  to  take  a  warmer  interest  in  the  singular 
female  who  stood  charged  with  such  enormous  crimes,  than  he 
might  otherwise  have  done. 

The  instructions  left  by  Mr.  Dunscomb  with  his  nephew,  also 
gave  the  latter  some  uneasiness.     In  the  first  place,  they  had 

(95) 


96  THE    WA*S    OF    THE    HOUR. 

been  very  ample  and  thoughtful  on  the  subject  of  the  prisoner's 
comforts,  which  had  been  seen  to  in  a  way  that  is  by  no  means 
common  in  a  gaol.  Money  had  been  used  pretty  freely  in  effect 
ing  this  object,  it  is  true ;  but,  out  of  the  large  towns,  money 
passes  for  much  less  on  such  occasions,  in  America,  than  in  most 
other  countries.  The  people  are  generally  kind-hearted,  and 
considerate  for  the  wants  of  others ;  and  fair  words  will  usually 
do  quite  as  much  as  dollars.  Dunscomb,  however,  had  made  a 
very  judicious  application  of  both,  and  beyond  the  confinement 
and  the  fearful  nature  of  the  cnarges  brought  against  her,  Mary 
Monson  had  very  little  to  complain  of  in  her  situation. 

The  part  of  his  instructions  which  gave  John  Wilnieter  most 
uneasiness,  which  really  vexed  him,  related  to  the  prisoner's  in 
nocence  or  guilt.  The  uncle  distrusted;  the  nephew  was  all 
confidence.  While  the  first  had  looked  at  the  circumstances 
coolly,  and  was,  if  anything,  leaning  to  the  opinion  that  there 
might  be  truth  in  the  charges ;  the  last  beheld  in  Mary  Monson 
an  attractive  young  person  of  the  other  sex,  whose  innocent 
countenance  was  the  pledge  of  an  innocent  soul.  To  John,  it 
was  preposterous  to  entertain  a  charge  of  this  nature  against  one 
so  singularly  gifted. 

"I  should  as  soon  think  of  accusing  Sarah  of  such  dark 
offences,  as  of  accusing  this  young  lady  I"  exclaimed  John  to  his 
friend  Michael  Millington,  while  the  two  were  taking  their  break 
fast  next  day.  "  It  is  preposterous — wicked — monstrous,  to  sup 
pose  that  a  young,  educated  female,  would,  or  could,  commit  such 
crimes !  Why,  Mike,  she  understands  French  and  Italian,  and 
Spanish ;  and  I  think  it  quite  likely  that  she  can  also  read  Ger 
man,  if,  indeed,  she  cannot  speak  it !" 

"  How  do  you  know  this  ?  —  Has  she  been  making  a  display 
of  her  knowledge  V 

"  Not  in  the  least  —  it  all  came  out  as  naturally  as  possible. 
She  asked  for  some  of  her  own  books  to  read,  and  when  they 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  97 

were  brought  to  her,  I  found  that  she  had  selected  works  in  all 
four  of  these  languages.  I  was  quite  ashamed  of  my  own  igno 
rance,  I  can  assure  you;  which  amounts  to  no  more  than  a 
smattering  of  French,  in  the  face  of  her  Spanish,  Italian  and 
German!" 

"  Poh !  I  .should  n't  have  minded  it,  in  the  least/'  Michael 
very  coolly  replied,  his  mouth  being  half-full  of  beefsteak.  "  The 
girls  lead  us  in  such  things,  of  course.  No  man  dreams  of  keep 
ing  up  with  a  young  lady  who  has  got  into  the  living  languages. 
Miss  AVilmeter  might  teach  us  both,  and  laugh  at  our  ignorance, 
in  the  bargain/' 

"  Sarah!  Ay,  she  is  a  good  enough  girl,  in  her  way  —  but  no 
more  to  be  compared " 

Jack  Wilmcter  stopped  short,  for  Millington  dropped  his  knife 
with  not  a  little  clatter,  on  his  plate,  air"  :  >s  gazing  at  his  friend 
in  a  sort  of  fierce  astonishment. 

"  You  do  n't  dream  of  comparing  your  sister  to  this  unknown 
and  suspected  stranger!"  at  length  Michael  got  out,  speaking 
very  much  like  one  whose  head  has  been  held  under  water  until 
his  breath  was  nearly  exhausted.  "You  ought  to  recollect, 
John,  that  virtue  should  never  be  brought  unnecessarily  in  con 
tact  with  vice." 

"  Mike,  and  do  you,  too,  believe  in  the  guilt  of  Mary  Monson  ?" 

"  I  believe  that  she  is  committed  under  a  verdict  given  by  an 
inquest,  and  think  it  best  to  suspend  my  opinion  as  to  the  main 
fact,  in  waiting  for  further  evidence.  Remember,  Jack,  how 
often  your  uncle  has  told  us  that,  after  all,  good  witnesses  were 
the  gist  of  the  law.  Let  us  wait  and  see  what  a  trial  may  bring 
forth." 

Young  Wilmeter  covered  his  face  with  his  hands,  bowed  his 
head  to  the  table,  and  ate  not  another  morsel  that  morning. 
His  good  sense  admonished  him  of  the  prudence  of  the  advice 
just  given;  while  feelings,  impetuous,  and  excited  almost  to 

5 


98  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

fierceness,  impelled  him  to  go  forth,  and  war  on  all  who  denied 
the  innocence  of  the  accused.  To  own  the  truth,  John  Wilmete? 
was  fast  becoming  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  love. 

And,  sooth  to  say,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  awkwardness 
of  her  situation,  the  angry  feeling  that  was  so  fast  rising  up 
against  her  in  Biberry  and  its  vicinity,  and  the  general  mystery 
that  concealed  her  real  name,  character  and  history,  there  was 
that  about  Mary  Monson,  in  her  countenance,  other  personal  ad 
vantages,  and  most  of  all  in  her  manner  and  voice,  that  might 
well  catch  the  fancy  of  a  youth  of  warm  feelings,  and  through 
his  fancy,  sooner  or  later,  touch  his  heart.  As  yet,  John  was 
only  under  the  influence  of  the  new-born  sentiment,  and  had  he 
now  been  removed  from  Biberry,  it  is  probable  that  the  feelings- 
and  interest  which  had  been  so  suddenly  and  powerfully  awa 
kened  in  him  would  have  passed  away  altogether,  or  remained 
in  shadow  on  his  memory,  as  a  melancholy  and  yet  pleasant 
record  of  hours  past,  under  circumstances  in  which  men  live  fast, 
if  they  do  not  always  live  well.  Little  did  the  uncle  think  of 
the  great  danger  to  which  he  exposed  his  nephew,  when  he 
placed  him,  like  a  sentinel  in  law,  on  duty  near  the  portal  of  his 
immured  client.  But  the  experienced  Dunscomb  was  anxious  to 
bring  John  into  active  life,  and  to  place  him  in  situations  that 
might  lead  him  to  think  and  execute  for  himself;  and  it  had  been 
much  his  practice,  of  late,  to  put  the  young  man  forward,  when 
ever  circumstances  would  admit  of  it.  Although  the  counsellor 
was  more  than  at  his  ease  in  fortune,  and  John  and  Sarah  each 
possessed  very  respectable  means,  that  placed  them  altogether 
above  dependence,  he  was  exceedingly  anxious  that  his  nephew 
should  succeed  to  his  own  business,  as  the  surest  mode  of  secur 
ing  his  happiness  and  respectability  in  a  community  where  the 
number  of  the  idle  is  relatively  so  small  as  to  render  the  pursuits 
of  a  class  that  is  by  no  means  without  its  uses,  where  it  can  be 
made  to  serve  the  tastes  and  manners  of  a  country,  difficult  of 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  99 

attainment.  He  had  the  same  desire  in  behalf  of  his  niece,  or 
that  she  should  become  the  wife  of  a  man  who  had  something  to 
do;  and  the  circumstance  that  Millington,  though  of  highly 
reputable  connections,  was  almost  entirely  without  fortune,  was 
no  objection  in  his  eyes  to  the  union  that  Sarah  was  so  obviously 
inclined  to  form.  The  two  young  men  had  been  left  on  the 
ground,  therefore,  to  take  care  of  the  interests  of  a  client  whom 
Dunscomb  was  compelled  to  admit  was  one  that  interested  him 
more  than  any  other  in  whose  services  he  had  ever  been  em 
ployed,  strongly  as  he  was  disposed  to  fear  that  appearances 
might  be  deceitful. 

Our  young  men  were  not  idle.  In  addition  to  doing  all  that 
was  in  their  power  to  contribute  to  the  personal  comforts  of  Miss 
Monson,  they  were  active  and  intelligent  in  obtaining,  and 
making  notes  of,  all  the  facts  that  had  been  drawn  out  by  the 
coroner's  inquest,  or  which  could  be  gleaned  in  the  neighbour 
hood.  These  facts,  or  rumours,  John  classed  into  the  "proved/' 
the  " reported/ ;  the  "probable"  and  the  "improbable/7  accom 
panying  each  division  with  such  annotations  as  made  a  very  use 
ful  sort  of  brief  for  any  one  who  wished  to  push  the  inquiries 
further. 

"There,  Millington,"  he  said  when  they  reached  the  gaol,  on 
their  return  from  a  walk  as  far  as  the  ruins  of  the  house  which 
had  been  burnt,  and  after  they  had  dined,  "  there ;  I  think  we 
have  done  tolerably  well  for  one  day,  and  are  in  a  fair  way  to  give 
uncle  Tom  a  pretty  full  account  of  this  miserable  business.  The 
more  I  see  and  learn  of  it,  the  more  I  am  convinced  of  the  perfect 
innocence  of  the  accused.  I  trust  it  strikes  you  in  the  same 
way,  Mike?" 

But  Mike  was  by  no  means  as  sanguine  as  his  friend.  He 
smiled  faintly  at  this  question,  and  endeavoured  to  evade  a  direct 
answer.  He  saw  how  lively  were  the  hopes  of  Tom,  and 
how  deeply  his  feelings  were  getting  to  be  interested  in  the 


100  THEWAYSOFTHEHOUR. 

matter,  while  his  own  judgment,  influenced,  perhaps,  by  Mr. 
Dunscomb's  example,  greatly  inclined  him  to  the  worst  forebod 
ing  of  the  result.  Still  he  had  an  honest  satisfaction  in  saying 
anything  that  might  contribute  to  the  gratification  of  Sarah's 
brother,  and  a  good  opportunity  now  offering,  he  did  not  let  it 
escape  him. 

"  There  is  one  thing,  Jack,  that  seems  to  have  been  strangely 
overlooked,"  he  said,  "and  out  of  which  some  advantage  may 
come,  if  it  be  thoroughly  sifted.  You  may  remember  it  was 
stated  by  some  of  the  witnesses,  that  there  was  a  Grerman  woman 
in  the  family  of  the  Goodwins,  the  day  that  preceded  the  fire  — 
one  employed  in  housework?" 

'•Now  you  mention  it,  I  do!  Sure  enough;  what  has  be 
come  of  that  woman?" 

"  While  you  were  drawing  your  diagram  of  the  ruins,  and 
projecting  your  plan  of  the  out-buildings,  garden,  fields  and  so 
on,  I  stepped  across  to  the  nearest  house,  and  had  a  chat  with 
the  ladies.  You  may  rememher  I  told  you  it  was  to  get  a  drink 
of  milk ;  but  I  saw  petticoats,  and  thought  something  might  be 
learned  from  woman's  propensity  to  talk?" 

(( I  know  you  left  me,  but  was  too  busy,  just  then,  to  see  on 
what  errand,  or  whither  you  went." 

"  It  was  to  the  old  stone  farm-house  that  stands  only  fifty  rods 
from  the  ruins.  The  family  in  possession  is  named  Burton,  and 
a  more  talkative  set  I  never  encountered  in  petticoats." 

"How  many  had  you  to  deal  with,  Mike?"  John  enquired, 
running  his  eyes  over  his  notes  as  he  asked  the  question,  in  a 
way  that  showed  how  little  he  anticipated  from  this  interview 
with  the  Burtons.  "  If  more  than  one  of  the  garrulous  set  I 
pity  you,  for  I  had  a  specimen  of  them  yesterday  morning  myself, 
in  a  passing  interview." 

"  There  were  three  talkers,  and  one  silent  body.  As  is  usual, 
I  thought  that  the  silent  member  of  the  house  knew  more  than 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  101 

the  speakers,  if  she  had  been  inclined  to  let  out  her  know 
ledge/' 

"  Ay,  that  is  a  way  we  have  of  judging  of  one  another ;  but  it 
is  as  often  false  as  true.  As  many  persons  are  silent  because 
they  have  nothing  to  say,  as  because  they  are  reflecting ;  and  of 
those  who  look  very  wise,  about  one-half,  as  near  as  I  can  judge, 
look  so  as  a  sort  of  apology  for  being  very  silly. " 

"  I  can't  say  how  it  was  with  Mrs.  Burton,  the  silent  member 
of  the  family,  in  this  case ;  but  I  do  know  that  her  three  worthy 
sisters-in-law  are  to  be  classed  among  the  foolish  virgins." 

"  Had  they  no  oil  to  trim  their  lamps  withal  ?" 

"  It  had  all  been  used  to  render  their  tongues  limber.  Never 
did  three  damsels  pour  out  words  in  so  full  a  rivulet,  as  I  was 
honoured  with  for  the  first  five  minutes.  By  the  end  of  that 
time,  I  was  enabled  to  put  a  question  or  two ;  after  which  they 
were  better  satisfied  to  let  me  interrogate,  while  they  were  con 
tent  to  answer." 

"  Did  you  learn  anything,  Mike,  to  reward  you  for  all  this 
trouble?"  again  glancing  at  his  notes. 

"  I  think  I  did.  With  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  in  eliminating 
the  surplussage,  if  I  may  coin  a  word  for  the  occasion,  I  got  these 
facts :  —  It  would  seem  that  the  German  woman  was  a  newly- 
arrived  immigrant,  who  had  strolled  into  the  country,  and  offered 
to  work  for  her  food,  &c.  Mrs.  G-oodwin  usually  attended  to  all 
her  own  domestic  matters;  but  she  had  an  attack  of  the  rheuma 
tism  that  predisposed  her  to  receive  this  offer,  and  that  so  much 
the  more  willingly,  because  the  i  help'  was  not  to  be  paid.  It 
appears  that  the  deceased  female  was  an  odd  mixture  of  miserly 
propensities  with  a  love  of  display.  She  hoarded  all  she  could 
lay  her  hands  on,  and  took  a  somewhat  uncommon  pleasure  in 
showing  her  hoards  to  her  neighbours.  In  consequence  of  this 
last  weakness,  the  whole  neighbourhood  knew  not  only  of  her 
gold,  for  she  turned  every  coin  into  that  metal,  before  it  waa 


102  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

consigned  to  her  stocking ;  but  of  the  amount  to  a  dollar,  and 
the  place  where  she  kept  it.  In  this  all  agreed,  even  to  the 
silent  matron." 

"And  what  has  become  of  this  German  woman  ?"  asked  John, 
closing  his  notes  with  sudden  interest.  "  Why  was  she  not  ex 
amined  before  the  inquest?  and  where  is  she  now?" 

"  No  one  knows.  She  has  been  missing  ever  since  the  fire ; 
and  a  few  fancy  that  she  may,  after  all,  be  the  person  who  has 
done  the  whole  mischief.  It  does  wear  a  strange  look,  that  no 
trace  can  be  heard  of  her !" 

"  This  must  be  looked  into  closely,  Mike.  It  is  unaccountably 
strange  that  more  was  not  said  of  her  before  the  coroner.  Yet, 
I  fear  one  thing,  too.  Dr.  McBrain  is  a  man  of  the  highest 
attainments  as  an  anatomist,  and  you  will  remember  that  he 
inclines  to  the  opinion  that  both  the  skeletons  belonged  to 
females.  Now,  it  may  turn  out  that  this  German  woman's 
remains  have  been  found;  which  will  put  her  guilt  out  of  the 
question." 

"Surely.  Jack,  you  would  not  be  sorry  to  have  it  turn  out 
that  any  human  being  should  be  innocent  of  such  crimes  \" 

"  By  no  means ;  though  it  really  does  seem  to  me  more  pro 
bable  that  an  unknown  straggler  should  be  the  guilty  one  in  this 
case,  than  an  educated  young  female,  who  has  every  claim  in  the 
way  of  attainments  to  be  termed  a  lady.  Besides,  Michael,  these 
German  immigrants  have  brought  more  than  their  share  of  crime 
among  us.  Look  at  the  reports  of  murders  and  robberies  for  the 
last  ten  years,  and  you  will  find  that  an  undue  proportion  of  them 
have  been  committed  by  this  class  of  immigrants.  To  me,  no 
thing  appears  more  probable  than  this  affair's  being  traced  up  to 
that  very  woman." 

"  I  own  you  are  right,  in  saying  what  you  do  of  the  Germans. 
But  it  should  be  remembered,  that  some  of  their  states  are  said 
to  have  adopted  the  policy  of  sending  their  rogues  to  America 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  103 

If  England  were  to  attempt  that,  now,  I  fancy  Jonathan  would 
hardly  stand  it !" 

"  He  ought  not  to  stand  it  for  an  hour,  from  any  nation  on 
earth.  If  there  ever  was  a  good  cause  for  war,  this  is  one.  Yes, 
•yes ;  that  German  immigrant  must  be  looked  up,  and  examined  " 

Michael  Millington  smiled  faintly  at  John  Wilmeter's  dis 
position  to  believe  the  worst  of  the  High  Dutch ;  touching  the 
frailties  of  whom,  however,  neither  of  the  two  had  exaggerated 
anything.  Far  more  than  their  share  of  the  grave  crimes  of  this 
country  have,  within  the  period  named,  been  certainly  committed 
by  immigrants  from  Germany;  whether  the  cause  be  in  the 
reason  given,  or  in  national  character.  This  is  not  according  to 
ancient  opinion,  but  we  believe  it  to  be  strictly  according  to  fact. 
The  Irish  are  clannish,  turbulent,  and  much  disposed  to  knock 
<each  other  on  the  head ;  but  it  is  not  to  rob,  or  to  pilfer,  but  to 
quarrel.  The  Englishman  will  pick  your  pocket,  or  commit  bur 
glary,  when  inclined  to  roguery,  and  frequently  he  has  a  way  of 
his  own  of  extorting,  in  the  way  of  vails.  The  Frenchmen  may 
well  boast  of  their  freedom  from  wrongs  done  to  persons  or  pro 
perty  in  this  country ;  no  class  of  immigrants  furnishing  to  the 
.prisons,  comparatively,  fewer  criminals.  The  natives,  out  of  all 
proportion,  are  freest  from  crime,  if  the  blacks  be  excepted,  and 
when  we  compare  the  number  of  the  convicted  with  the  number 
of  the  people.  Still,  such  results  ought  not  to  be  taken  as  fur 
nishing  absolute  rules  by  which  to  judge  of  large  bodies  of  men ; 
since  unsettled  lives  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  charities  of  life 
on  the  other,  may  cause  disproportions  that  would  not  otherwise 
.exist. 

If  one  of  these  skeletons  be  that  of  the  German  woman,  and 
Dr.  McBrain  should  prove  to  be  right,"  said  John  Wilmeter, 
earnestly,  "  what  has  become  of  the  remains  of  Mr.  Goodwin  ? 
There  was  a  husband  as  well  as  a  wife,  in  that  family." 

"  Very  true,"  answered  Millington ;  "  and  I  learned  something 


104  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

concerning  him,  too.  It  seems  that  the  old  fellow  drank  intensely, 
at  times,  when  he  and  his  wife  made  the  house  too  hot  to  ho!3 
them.  All  the  Burtons  agreed  in  giving  this  account  of  the 
good  couple.  The  failing  was  not  generally  known;  and  had  not 
yet  gone  so  far  as  to  affect  the  old  man's  general  character,  though 
it  would  seem  to  have  been  known  to  the  immediate  neighbours/' 

"And  not  one  word  of  all  this,  is  to  be  found  in  any  of  tb 
reports  in  the  papers  from  town  !  Not  a  particle  of  testimony  01 
the  point  before  the  inquest !  Why,  Mike,  this  single  fact  ma} 
furnish  a  clue  to  the  whole  catastrophe/' 

"In  what  way?"  Millington  very  quietly  enquired. 

"Those  bones  are  the  bones  of  females;  old  Goodwin  has 
robbed  the  house,  set  fire  to  it,  murdered  his  wife  and  the  Ger 
man  woman  in  a  drunken  frolic,  and  run  away.  Here  is  a  his 
tory  for  Uncle  Tom,  that  will  delight  him;  for  if  he  do  not  feel 
quite  certain  of  Mary  Monson's  innocence- now,  he  would  be  de 
lighted  to  learn  its  truth  !" 

"  You  make  much  out  of  a  very  little,  Jack,  and  imagine  far 
more  than  you  can  prove.  Why  should  old  Goodwin  set  fire  to 
his  own  house — for  I  understand  the  property  was  his — steal  his 
own  money  —  for,  though  married  women  did  then  hold  a  sepa 
rate  estate  in  a  bed-quilt,  or  a  gridiron,  the  law  could  not  touch 
the  previous  accumulations  of  a  feme  coverte  —  and  murder  a 
poor  foreigner,  who  could  neither  give  nor  take  away  anything 
that  the  building  contained  ?  Then  he  is  to  burn  his  own  house, 
and  make  himself  a  vagrant  in  his  old  age  —  and  that  among 
strangers !  I  learn  he  was  born  in  that  very  house,  and  has 
passed  his  days  in  it.  Such  a  man  would  not  be  very  likely  to 
destroy  it." 

"  Why  not,  to  conceal  a  murder  ?  Crime  must  be  concealed, 
or  it  is  punished/7 

"Sometimes,"  returned  Michael,  drily.  "This  Mary  Mon- 
Bon  will  be  hanged,  out  of  all  question,  should  the  case  go  against 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        105 

her,  for  she  understands  French,  and  Italian,  and  German,  you 
say ;  either  of  which  tongues  would  be  sufficient  to  hang  her ; 
but  had  old  Mrs.  Goodwin  murdered  her,  philanthropy  would 
have  been  up  and  stirring,  and  no  rope  would  be  stretched." 

"  Millington,  you  have  a  way  of  talking,  at  times,  that  is  quito 
shocking !  I  do  wish  you  could  correct  it.  What  use  is  there 
in  bringing  a  young  lady  like  Miss  Monson  down  to  the  level  of 
a  common  criminal  ?" 

"She  will  be  brought  down  as  low  as  that,  depend  on  it,  if 
guilty.  There  is  no  hope  for  one  who  bears  about  her  person, 
in  air,  manner,  speech,  and  deportment,  the  unequivocal  signs  of 
a  lady.  Our  sympathies  are  all  kept  for  those  who  are  less  set 
apart  from  the  common  herd.  Sympathy  goes  by  majorities,  as 
well  as  other  matters." 

"You  think  her,  at  all  events,  a  lady?"  said  John,  quickly. 
"  How,  then,  can  you  suppose  it  possible  that  she  has  been  guilty 
of  the  crimes  of  which  she  stands  accused  ?" 

"  Simply,  because  my  old-fashioned  father  has  given  me  old- 
fashioned  notions  of  the  meaning  of  terms.  So  thin-skinned 
have  people  become  lately,  that  even  language  must  be  perverted 
to  gratify  their  conceit.  The  terms  ' gentleman'  and  'lady'  have 
as  denned  meanings  as  any  two  words  we  possess  —  signifying 
persons  of  cultivated  minds,  and  of  certain  refinements  in  tastes 
and  manners.  Morals  have  nothing  to  do  with  either,  neces 
sarily,  as  a  l gentleman'  or  'lady*  may  be  very  wicked;  nay, 
often  are.  It  is  true  there  are  particular  acts,  partaking  of  mean 
nesses,  rather  than  anything  decidedly  criminal,  that,  by  a  con 
vention,  a  gentleman  or  lady  may  not  commit ;  but  there  are  a 
hundred  others,  that  are  far  worse,  which  are  not  prohibited.  It 
is  unlady-like  to  talk  scandal ;  but  it  is  not  deemed  always  un- 
lady-like  to  give  grounds  to  scandal.  Here  is  a  bishop  who  ha&f 
*ately  been  defining  a  gentleman,  and,  as  usually  happens  with 
such  men,  unless  they  were  originally  on  a  level  with  their 

5* 


106  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

dioceses,  he  describes  a  '  Christian/  rather  than  a  '  gentleman/ 
This  notion  of  making  converts  by  means  of  enlisting  our  vanity 
and  self-love  in  the  cause,  is  but  a  weak  one,  at  the  best." 

"  Certainly,  Mike ;  I  agree  with  you  in  the  main.  As  large 
classes  of  polished  people  do  exist,  who  have  loose  enough  notions 
of  morals,  there  ought  to  be  terms  to  designate  them,  as  a  class, 
as  well  as  to  give  any  other  name,  when  we  have  the  thing. 
Use  has  applied  those  of  'gentlemen'  and  'ladies/  and  I  can  see 
no  sufficient  reason  for  changing  them." 

"  It  comes  wholly  from  the  longings  of  human  vanity.  As  a 
certain  distinction  is  attached  to  the  term,  everybody  is  covetous 
of  obtaining  it,  and  all  sorts  of  reasoning  is  resorted  to,  to  drag 
them  into  the  categories.  It  would  be  the  same,  if  it  were  a 
ground  of  distinction  to  have  but  one  ear.  But  this  distinction 
will  be  very  likely  to  make  things  go  hard  with  our  client,  Jack, 
if  the  jury  say  '  guilty '." 

"  The  jury  never  can  —  never  will  render  such  a  verdict !  I 
do  not  think  the  grand  jury  will  even  return  a  bill.  Why  should 
they  ?  The  testimony  would  n't  convict  an  old  state-prison-bird." 

Michael  Millington  smiled,  a  little  sadly,  perhaps  —  for  John 
Wilmeter  was  Sarah's  only  brother — but  he  made  no  reply,  per 
ceiving  that  an  old  negro,  named  Sip,  or  Scipio,  who  lived  about 
the  jail  by  a  sort  of  sufferance,  and  who  had  now  been  a  volun 
tary  adherent  of  a  place  that  was  usually  so  unpleasant  to  men 
of  his  class  for  many  years,  was  approaching,  as  if  he  were  the 
bearer  of  a  message.  Sip  was  an  old-school  black,  grey-headed, 
and  had  seen  more  than  his  three-score  years  and  ten.  No 
wonder,  then,  that  his  dialect  partook,  in  a  considerable  degree, 
of  the  peculiarities  that  were  once  so  marked  in  a  Manhattan 
"nigger."  Unlike  his  brethren  of  the  present  day,  he  was  cour 
tesy  itself  to  all  " gentlemen,"  while  his  respect  for  "common 
folks"  was  a  good  deal  more  equivocal.-  But  chiefly  did  the  old 
man  despise  "yaller  fellers;"  these  he  regarded  as  a  mongrel 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  107 

race,  who  could  neither  aspire  to  the  pure  complexion  of  the  Cir 
cassian  stock,  nor  lay  claim  to  the  glistening  dye  of  Africa. 

"Mrs.  Gott,  she  want  to  see  masser,"  said  Scipio,  bowing  to 
John,  grinning — for  a  negro  seldom  loses  his  teeth — and  turning 
civilly  to  Millington,  with  a  respectful  inclination  of  a  head  that 
was  as  white  as  snow.  "  Yes,  sah ;  she  want  to  see  masser,  soon 
as  conbe'nent  j  and  soon  as  he  can  come." 

Now,  Mrs.  Gott  was  the  wife  of  the  sheriff,  and,  alas !  for  the 
dignity  of  the  office !  the  sheriff  was  the  keeper  of  the  county  gaol. 
This  is  one  of  the  fruits  bora  on  the  wide-spreading  branches  of 
the  tree  of  democracy.  Formerly,  a  New  York  sheriff  bore  a 
•strong  resemblance  to  his  English  namesake.  He  was  one  of  the 
county  gentry,  and  executed  the  duties  of  his  office  with  an  air 
and  a  manner ;  appeared  in  court  with  a  sword,  and  carried  with 
his  name  a  weight  and  an  authority,  that  now  are  nearly  wanting. 
Such  men  would  scarcely  become  gaolers.  But  that  universal 
root  of  all  evil,  the  love  of  money,  made  the  discovery  that  there 
was  profit  to  be  had  in  feeding  the  prisoners,  and  a  lower  class 
of  men  aspired  to  the  offices,  and  obtained  them ;  since  which 
time,  more  than  half  of  the  sheriffs  of  New  York  have  been  their 
own  gaolers. 

"Do  you  know  why  Mrs.  Gott  wishes  to  see  me,  Scipio?"  de 
manded  Wilmeter. 

"  I  b'lieve,  sah,  dat  ?e  young  woman,  as  murders  ole  Masser 
Goodwin  and  he  wife,  ask  her  to  send  for  masser." 

This  was  plain  enough,  and  it  caused  Jack  a  severe  pang ;  for 
it  showed  how  conclusively  and  unsparingly  the  popular  mind 
had  made  up  its  opinion  touching  Mary  Monson's  guilt.  There 
was  no  time  to  be  lost,  however ;  and  the  young  man  hastened 
towards  the  building  to  which  the  gaol  was  attached,  both  stand 
ing  quite  near  the  court-house.  In  the  door  of  what  was  her 
dwelling,  for  the  time-being,  stood  Mrs.  Gott,  the  wife  of  the 
high  sheriff,  of  the  county,  and  the  only  person  in  all  Biberry 


108  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

who,  as  it  appeared  to  John,  entertained  his  own  opinions  of  the 
innocence  of  the  accused.  But  Mrs.  Gott  was,  by  nature,  a  kind- 
hearted  woman ;  and,  though  so  flagrantly  out  of  place  in  her 
united  characters,  was  just  such  a  person  as  ought  to  have  the 
charge  of  the  female  department  of  a  prison.  Owing  to  the  con 
stant  changes  of  the  democratic  principle  of  rotation  in  office, 
one  of  the  most  impudent  of  all  the  devices  of  a  covetous  envy, 
this  woman  had  not  many  months  before  come  out  of  the  bosom 
of  society,  and  had  not  seen  enough  of  the  ways  of  her  brief 
and  novel  situation  to  have  lost  any  of  those  qualities  of  her  sex, 
such  as  extreme  kindness,  gentleness  of  disposition,  and  feminine 
feeling,  that  are  anything  but  uncommon  among  the  women  of 
America.  In  many  particulars,  she  would  have  answered  the 
imaginative  bishop's  description  of  a  "lady;"  but  she  would 
have  been  sadly  deficient  in  some  of  the  requisites  that  the 
opinions  of  the  world  have  attached  to  the  character.  In  these 
last  particulars,  Mary  Monson,  as  compared  with  this  worthy 
matron,  was  like  a  being  of  another  race ;  though,  as  respects 
the  first,  we  shall  refer  the  reader  to  the  events  to  be  hereafter 
related,  that  he  may  decide  the  question  according  to  his  own 
judgment. 

"  Mary  Monson  has  sent  for  you,  Mr.  Wilmeter,"  the  good 
Mrs.  Gott  commenced,  in  a  low,  confidential  sort  of  tone,  as  if 
she  imagined  that  she  and  John  were  the  especial  guardians  of 
this  unknown  and  seemingly  ill-fated  young  woman's  fortunes. 
"  She  is  wonderfully  resigned  and  patient  —  a  great  deal  more 
patient  than  I  should  be,  if  I  was  obliged  to  live  in  this  gaol  — 
that  is,  on  the  other  side  of  the  strong  doors ;  but  she  told  me, 
an  hour  ago,  that  she  is  not  sure,  after  all,  her  imprisonment  is 
not  the  very  best  thing  that  could  happen  to  her  !" 

"That  was  a  strange  remark  I"  returned  John.  "Bid  she 
make  it  under  a  show  of  feeling,  as  if  penitence,  or  any  other, 
Btrong  emotion,  induced  her  to  utter  it?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  109 

"  With  as  sweet  a  smile,  as  composed  a  manner,  and  as  gentlo 
and  soft  a  voice  as  a  body  ever  sees,  or  listens  to  !  What  a  won 
derfully  soft  and  musical  voice  she  has,  Mr.  Wilmeter !" 

"  She  has,  indeed.  I  was  greatly  struck  with  it,  the  moment 
I  heard  her  speak.  How  much  like  a  lady,  Mrs.  Gott,  she  uses 
it — and  how  correct  and  well-pronounced  are  her  words !" 

Although  Mrs.  Gott  and  John  Wilmeter  had  very  different 
ideas,  at  the  bottom,  of  the  requisites  to  form  a  lady,  and  the 
pronunciation  of  the  good  woman  was  by  no  means  faultless,  she 
cordially  assented  to  the  truth  of  the  young  man's  eulogy.  In 
deed,  Mary  Monson,  for  the  hour,  was  her  great  theme;  and, 
though  still  a  young  woman  herself,  and  good  looking  withal, 
she  really  seemed  never  to  tire  of  uttering  her  praises. 

(<  She  has  been  educated,  Mr.  Wilmeter,  far  above  any  female 

hereabout,  unless  it  may  be  some  of  the s  and s," 

the  good  woman  continued.  "  Those  families,  you  know,  are  our 
upper  crust  —  not  upper  ten  thousand,  as  the  newspapers  call  it, 
but  upper  hundred,  and  their  ladies  may  know  as  much  as  Mary ; 
but,  beyond  them,  no  female  hereabouts  can  hold  a  candle  to  her ! 
Her  books  have  been  brought  in,  and  I  looked  them  over — there 
is  n't  more  than  one  in  three  that  I  can  read  at  all.  What  is 
more,  they  do  n't  seem  to  be  all  in  one  tongue,  the  foreign  books, 
but  in  three  or  four !" 

"  She  certainly  has  a  knowledge  of  several  of  the  living  lan 
guages,  and  an  accurate  knowledge,  too.  I  know  a  little  of  such 
things  myself,  but  my  friend  Millington  is  quite  strong  in  both 
the  living  and  dead  languages,  and  he  says  that  what  she  knows 
she  knows  well." 

"That  is  comforting  —  for  a  young  lady  that  can  speak  so 
many  different  tongues  would  hardly  think  of  robbing  and  mur 
dering  two  old  people,  in  their  beds.  Well,  sir,  perhaps  you  had 
better  go  to  the  door  and  see  her,  though  I  could  stay  here  and 
talk  about  her  all  day.  Pray  Mr.  Wilmeter,  which  of  the  lan 
guages  is  really  dead?" 


110  THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

John  smiled,  but  civilly  enlightened  the  sheriff's  lady  on  this 
point,  and  then,  preceded  by  her,  he  went  to  the  important  door 
which  separated  the  dwelling  of  the  family  from  the  rooms  of  the 
gaol.  Once  opened,  an  imperfect  communication  is  obtained 
with  the  interior  of  the  last,  by  means  of  a  grating  in  an  inner 
door.  The  gaol  of  Dukes  county  is  a  recent  construction,  and  is 
built  on  a  plan  that  is  coming  much  into  favour,  though  still 
wanting  in  the  highest  proof  of  civilization,  by  sufficiently  sepa 
rating  criminals,  and  in  treating  the  accused  with  a  proper  degree 
of  consideration,  until  the  verdict  of  a  jury  has  pronounced  them 
guilty. 

The  construction  of  this  gaol  was  very  simple.  A  strong,  low, 
oblong  building  had  been  erected  on  a  foundation  so  filled  in 
with  stones  as  to  render  digging  nearly  impossible.  The  floors 
were  of  large,  massive  stones,  that  ran  across  the  whole  building 
a  distance  of  some  thirty  feet,  or  if  there  were  joints,  they  were 
under  the  partition  walls,  rendering  them  as  secure  as  if  solid. 
The  cells  were  not  large,  certainly,  but  of  sufficient  size  to  admit 
of  light  and  air.  The  ceilings  were  of  the  same  enormous  flat 
stones  as  the  floors,  well  secured  by  a  load  of  stones,  and  beams 
to  brace  them,  and  the  partitions  were  of  solid  masonry.  There 
the  prisoner  is  encased  in  stone,  and  nothing  can  be  more  hope 
less  than  an  attempt  to  get  out  of  one  of  these  cells,  provided  the 
gaoler  gives  even  ordinary  attention  to  their  condition.  Above 
and  around  them  are  erected  the  outer  walls  of  the  gaol.  The 
last  comprise  an  ordinary  stone  house,  with  roof,  windows,  and 
the  other  customary  appliances  of  a  human  abode.  As  these 
walls  stand  several  feet  without  those  of  the  real  prison,  and  are 
somewhat  higher,  the  latter  are  an  imperium  in  imperio ;  a  house 
within  a  house.  The  space  between  the  walls  of  the  two  build 
ings  forms  a  gallery  extending  around  all  the  cells.  Iron  grated 
gates  divide  the  several  parts  of  this  gallery  into  so  many  com 
partments,  and  in  the  gaol  of  Biberry  care  has  been  had  so  to 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  Ill 

arrange  these  subdivisions  that  those  within  any  one  compartment 
may  be  concealed  from  those  in  all  of  the  others,  but  the  two 
that  immediately  join  it.  The  breezes  are  admitted  by  means  of 
the  external  windows,  while  the  height  of  the  ceiling  in  the  gal 
leries,  and  the  space  above  the  tops  of  the  cells,  contribute  largely 
to  comfort  and  health  in  this  important  particular.  As  the 
doors  of  the  cells  stand  opposite  to  the  windows,  the  entire  gaol 
can  be,  and  usually  is,  made  airy  and  light.  Stoves  in  the  gal 
leries  preserve  the  temperature,  and  effectually  remove  all  dis 
agreeable  moisture.  In  a  word,  the  place  is  as  neat,  convenient, 
and  decent  as  the  gaol  of  convicts  need  ever  to  be ;  but  the  proper 
sort  of  distinction  is  not  attended  to  between  them  and  those  who 
are  merely  accused.  Our  civilization  in  this  respect  is  defective. 
While  the  land  is  filled  with  senseless  cries  against  an  aristocracy 
which,  if  it  exist  at  all,  exists  in  the  singular  predicament  of  being 
far  less  favoured  than  the  democracy,  involving  a  contradiction 
in  terms;  against  a  feudality  that  consists  in  men's  having  bar 
gained  to  pay  their  debts  in  chickens,  no  one  complaining  in 
behalf  of  those  who  have  entered  into  contracts  to  do  the  same  in 
wheat ;  and  against  rent,  while  usury  is  not  only  smiled  on,  but 
encouraged,  and  efforts  are  made  to  legalize  extortion  ]  the  public 
mind  is  quiet  on  the  subject  of  the  treatment  of  those  whom  the 
policy  of  government  demands  should  be  kept  in  security  until 
their  guilt  or  innocence  be  established.  What  reparation,  under 
such  circumstances,  can  be  made  to  him  to  whom  the  gates  are 
finally  opened,  for  having  been  incarcerated  on  charges  that  are 
groundless?  The  gaols  of  the  Christian  world  were  first  con 
structed  by  an  irresponsible  power,  and  to  confine  the  weak.  We 
imitate  the  vices  of  the  system  with  a  cool  indifference,  and  shout 
"feudality"  over  a  bantam,  or  a  pound  of  butter,  that  are  paid 
under  contracted  covenants  for  rent ! 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"  Sir,  this  is  the  house ;  please  it  you,  thit  I  call  ?" 

Taming  of  the  Shrew. 

THE  grated  window  which  John  "Wilmeter  now  approached,  com 
manded  nearly  an  entire  view  of  the  gallery  that  communicated 
with  the  cell  of  Mary  Monson.  It  also  commanded  a  partial 
view  of  the  cell  itself.  As  he  looked  through  the  grates,  he  saw 
how  neat  and  comfortable  the  last  had  been  made  by  means  of 
Mrs.  Gott's  care,  aided,  doubtless,  by  some  of  the  prisoner's 
money  —  that  gold  which  was,  in  fact,  the  strongest  and  only 
very  material  circumstance  against  her.  Mrs.  Gott  had  put  a 
carpet  in  the  cell,  and  divers  pieces  of  furniture  that  were  useful, 
as  well  as  two  or  three  that  were  intended  to  be  ornamental,  ren 
dering  the  otherwise  gloomy  little  apartment  tolerably  cheerful. 
The  gallery,  much  to  John's  surprise,  had  been  furnished,  also. 
Pieces  of  new  carpeting  were  laid  on  the  flags,  chairs  and  table 
had  been  provided,  and  among  other  articles  of  this  nature,  was 
a  very  respectable  looking-glass.  Everything  appeared  new,  and 
as  if  just  sent  from  the  different  shops  where  the  various  articles 
were  sold.  Wilmeter  fancied  that  not  less  than  a  hundred  dollars 
had  been  expended  in  furnishing  that  gallery.  The  effect  was 
surprising ;  taking  away  from  the  place  its  chilling,  jail-like  air, 
and  giving  to  it,  what  it  had  never  possessed  before,  one  of  house 
hold  comfort. 

Mary  Monson  was  walking  to  and  fro,  in  this  gallery,  with 
slow,  thoughtful  steps,  her  head  a  little  bowed,  and  her  hands 

(112) 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  113 

hanging  before  her,  with  the  fingers  interlocked.  So  completely 
was  she  lost  in  thought,  that  John's  footstep,  or  presence  at  the 
grate,  was  not  observed,  and  he  had  an  opportunity  to  watch  her 
for  near  a  minute,  unseen  himself.  The  occupation  was  not 
exactly  excusable ;  but,  under  all  the  circumstances,  young  Wil- 
meter  felt  as  if  it  might  be  permitted.  It  was  his  duty  to  ascer 
tain  all  he  fairly  might,  concerning  his  client. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  this  strange  girl,  extraordinary 
by  her  situation  as  a  person  accused  of  crimes  so  heinous,  and 
perhaps  still  more  so  by  her  manner  of  bearing  up  against  the 
terrors  and  mortifications  of  her  condition,  as  well  as  by  the  mys 
tery  which  so  completely  veiled  her  past  life,  was  not  a  beauty, 
in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term.  Nevertheless,  not  one 
female  in  ten  thousand  would  sooner  ensnare  the  heart  of  a 
youth,  by  means  of  her  personal  attractions  alone.  It  was  not 
regularity  of  features,  nor  brilliancy  of  complexion,  nor  lustre  of 
the  eyes,  nor  any  of  the  more  ordinary  charms,  that  gave  her 
this  power;  but  an  indescribable  union  of  feminine  traits,  in 
which  intellectual  gifts,  spirit,  tenderness,  and  modesty,  were  so 
singularly  blended,  as  to  leave  it  questionable  which  had  the 
advantage.  Her  eyes  were  of  a  very  gentle  and  mild  expression, 
when  in  a  state  of  rest ;  excited,  they  were  capable  of  opening 
windows  to  the  inmost  soul.  Her  form  was  faultless;  being 
the  true  medium  between  vigorous  health  and  womanly  delicacy ; 
which,  in  this  country,  implies  much  less  of  the  robust  and  solid, 
than  one  meets  with  in  the  other  hemisphere. 

It  is  not  easy  to  tell  how  we  acquire  those  in-and-in  habits, 
which  get  to  be  a  sort  of  second  nature,  and  almost  bestow  on  us 
new  instincts.  It  is  by  these  secret  sympathies,  these  tastes  that 
pervade  the  moral,  as  the  nerves  form  a  natural  telegraph  through 
the  physical,  system,  that  one  feels  rather  than  sees,  when  he  is 
in  the  company  of  persons  in  his  own  class  in  life.  Dress  will 
not  afford  an  infallible  test,  on  such  an  occasion,  though  the  davf 


114  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

is  instantly  seen  not  to  be  the  peacock ;  neither  will  address,  foi 
the  distinctive  qualities  lie  much  deeper  than  the  surface.  But 
so  it  is ;  a  gentleman  can  hardly  be  brought  into  the  company 
of  man  or  woman,  without  his  at  once  perceiving  whether  he  or 
she  belong  to  his  own  social  caste  or  not.  What  is  more,  if  a 
man  of  the  world,  he  detects  almost  instinctively  the  degrees  of 
caste,  as  well  as  the  greater  subdivisions,  and  knows  whether  his 
strange  companions  have  seen  much,  or  little;  whether  their 
.gentility  is  merely  the  result  of  the  great  accident,  with  its  cus 
tomary  advantages,  or  has  been  smoothed  over  by  a  liberal  in 
tercourse  with  the  better  classes  of  a  general  society.  Most  of 
all,  may  a  travelled  person  be  known  —  and  that  more  especially 
in  a  provincial  country,  like  our  own  —  from  one  that  has  not 
travelled ;  though  the  company  kept  in  other  lands  necessarily 
draws  an  obvious  distinction  between  the  last.  Now,  John  Wil- 
meter,  always  mingling  with  the  best  society  of  his  own  country, 
had  also  been  abroad,  and  had  obtained  that  "  second  sight" 
which  so  insensibly,  but  certainly,  increases  the  vision  of  all 
Americans  who  enjoy  the  advantage  of  acquiring  it.  What  is 
more,  though  his  years  and  the  plans  of  his  uncle  for  his  future 
welfare,  had  prevented  his  staying  in  Europe  long  enough  to 
receive  all  the  benefit  such  a  tour  can  bestow,  he  had  remained 
long  enough  to  pass  beyond  the  study  of  merely  physical 
things;  and  had  made  certain  acquisitions  in  other  matters,  more 
essential  to  tastes,  if  not  to  character.  When  an  American  re 
turns  from  an  excursion  into  the  old  world,  with  "  I  come  back 
better  satisfied  than  ever  with  my  own  country,"  it  is  an  infallible 
sign  that  he  did  not  stay  long  enough  abroad;  and  when  he 
returns  only  to  find  fault,  it  is  equally  proof  that  he  has  stayed  too 
long.  There  is  a  happy  medium  which  teaches  something  near 
the  truth,  and  that  would  tell  us  that  there  are  a  thousand  things 
to  be  amended  and  improved  at  home,  while  there  are  almost  as 
many  enjoyed,  that  the  oldest  and  most  polished  people  on  earth 


TJIE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  115 

might  envy.  John  Wilmeter  had  not  reached  the  point  that 
enabled  him  to  make  the  nicest  distinctions,  but  he  was  suffi 
ciently  advanced  to  have  detected  what  he  conceived  to  be  signs 
that  this  singular  young  creature,  unknown,  unsupported  by  any 
who  appeared  to  take  an  interest  in  her,  besides  himself  and  the 
accidental  acquaintances  formed  under  the  most  painful  circum 
stances,  had  been  abroad;  perhaps,  had  been  educated  there 
The  regulated  tones  of  one  of  the  sweetest  voices  he  had  ever 
heard,  the  distinctness  and  precision  of  her  utterance,  as  far  aa 
possible  removed  from  mouthing  and  stiffness,  but  markedly 
quiet  and  even,  with  a  total  absence  of  all  the  affectations  of 
boarding-school  grammar,  were  so  many  proofs  of  even  a  Euro 
pean  education,  "as  he  fancied  j  and  before  that  week  was  termi 
nated,  John  had  fully  made  up  his  mind  that  Mary  Monsou  — 
though  an  American  by  birth,  about  which  there  could  be  no 
dispute  —  had  been  well  taught  in  some  of  the  schools  of  the 
old  world. 

This  was  a  conclusion  not  reached  immediately.  He  had  to 
be  favoured  with  several  interviews,  and  to  worm  himself  gradu 
ally  into  the  confidence  of  his  uncle's  client,  ere  he  could  be 
permitted  to  see  enough  of  the  subject  of  his  studies  to  form  an 
opinion  so  abstruse  and  ingenious. 

When  Mary  Monson  caught  a  glimpse  of  John  Wilmeter 's 
head  at  her  grate — where  he  stood  respectfully  uncovered,  as  in 
a  lady's  presence  —  a  slight  flush  passed  over  her  face ;  but  ex 
pecting  him,  as  she  did,  she  could  not  well  be  surprised. 

"  This  bears  some  resemblance,  Mr.  Wilmeter,  to  an  interview 
in  a  convent,"  she  then  said,  with  a  slight  smile,  but  with  per 
fect  composure  of  manner.  "  I  am  the  novice  —  and  novice  am 
I,  indeed,  to  scenes  like  this  —  you,  the  excluded  friend,  who  is 
compelled  to  pay  his  visit  through  a  grate  !  I  must  apologize  for 
all  the  trouble  I  am  giving  you." 

"  Do  not  name  it  —  I  cannot  be  better  employed  than  in  your 


116  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

behalf.  I  am  rejoiced  that  you  sustain  yourself  so  well  against 
what  must  be  a  most  unheard-of  calamity,  for  one  like  yourself, 
and  cannot  but  admire  the  admirable  equanimity  with  which  you 
bear  your  cruel  fortune/' 

"Equanimity!"  repeated  Mary  with  emphasis,  and  a  slight 
display  of  intense  feeling,  powerfully  controlled ;  "if  it  be  so, 
Mr.  Wilmeter,  it  must  be  from  the  sense  of  security  that  I  feel. 
Yes;  for  the  first  time  in  months,  I  do  feel  myself  safe — secure/' 

"  Safe  !— Secure  !— What,  in  a  gaol  ?" 

"  Certainly ;  gaols  are  intended  for  places  of  security,  are  they 
not?"  answered  Mary,  smiling,  but  faintly  and  with  a  gleam  of 
sadness  on  her  face.  "  This  may  appear  wonderful  to  you,  but  I 
do  tell  no  more  than  sober  truth,  in  repeating  that,  for  the  first 
time  in  months,  I  have  now  a  sense  of  security.  I  am  what  you 
call  in  the  hands  of  the  law,  and  one  there  must  be  safe  from 
everything  but  what  the  law  can  do  to  her.  Of  that  I  have  no 
serious  apprehensions,  and  I  feel  happy." 

•"  Happy!" 

"  Yes ;  by  comparison,  happy.  I  tell  you  this  the  more  will 
ingly,  for  I  plainly  see  you  feel  a  generous  interest  in  my  wel 
fare —  an  interest  which  exceeds  that  of  the  counsel  in  his 
client ' ' 

"A  thousand  times  exceeds  it,  Miss  Monson  !  —  Nay  —  is  not 
to  be  named  with  it !" 

a  I  thank  you,  Mr.  Wilmeter  —  from  my  heart  I  thank  you," 
returned  the  prisoner,  a  slight  flush  passing  over  her  features, 
while  her  eyes  were  cast  towards  the  floor.  ll  I  believe  you  are 
one  of  strong  feelings  and  quick  impulses,  and  am  grateful  that 
these  have  been  in  my  favour,  under  circumstances  that  might 
well  have  excused  you  for  thinking  the  worst.  From  the  hints 
of  this  kind  woman,  Mrs.  Grott,  I  am  afraid  that  the  opinion  of 
Biberry  is  less  consoling?" 

"  You  must  know  how  it  is  in  country  villages,  Miss  Monson, 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  117 

—  every  one  has  something  to  say,  and  every  one  brings  all 
things  down  to  the  level  of  his  own  knowledge  and  under 
standing." 

Mary  Monson  smiled,  again ;  this  time  more  naturally,  and 
without  any  painful  expression  to  lessen  the  bright  influence 
that  lighting  up  of  her  features  gave  to  a  countenance  so  remark 
able  for  its  appearance  of  illumination  from  within. 

"  Is  not  such  the  case  in  towns,  as  well  as  in  villages,  Mr. 
Wilmeter?"  she  asked. 

"  Perhaps  it  is  —  but  I  mean  that  the  circle  of  knowledge  is 
more  confined  in  a  place  like  this,  than  in  a  large  town,  and  that 
the  people  here  could  not  well  go  beyond  it." 

"  Biberry  is  so  near  New  York,  that  I  should  think,  taking 
class  against  class,  no  great  difference  can  be  found  in  their  in 
habitants.  That  which  the  good  folk  of  Biberry  think  of  my 
case,  I  am  afraid  will  be  thought  of  it  by  those  of  your  own 
town." 

"  My  own  town  ?  —  and  are  you  not  really  from  New  York, 
Miss  Monson?" 

"In  no  manner,"  answered  Mary,  once  more  smiling;  this 
time,  however,  because  she  understood  how  modestly  and  readily 
her  companion  was  opening  a  door  by  which  she  might  let  a 
secret  she  had  declined  to  reveal  to  his  uncle,  escape.  "  I  am 
not  what  you  call  a  Manhattanese,  in  either  descent,  birth,  or 
residence;  in  no  sense,  whatever." 

"  But,  surely,  you  have  never  been  educated  in  the  country  ? 
— You  must  belong  to  some  large  town  —  your  manners  show 
that  —  I  mean  that  you " 

"  Do  not  belong  to  Biberry.  In  that  you  are  quite  right,  sir. 
I  had  never  seen  Biberry  three  months  since ;  but,  as  for  New 
York,  I  have  not  passed  a  month  there,  in  my  whole  life.  The 
longest  visit  I  ever  paid  you,  was  one  of  ten  days,  when  I  landed, 
coming  from  Havre,  about  eighteen  months  since  " 


118  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  From  Havre  !  Surely,  you  are  an  American,  Miss  Monson 
•• — our  own  countrywoman?" 

"  Your  own  countrywoman,  Mr.  Wilmeter,  by  birth,  descent, 
and  feelings.  But  an  American  female  may  visit  Europe." 

"  Certainly ;  and  be  educated  there,  as  I  had  already  suspected 
was  your  case." 

"  In  part  it  was,  and  in  part  it  was  not."  Here  Mary  paused, 
looked  a  little  arch,  seemed  to  hesitate,  and  to  have  some  doubts 
whether  she  ought  to  proceed,  or  not ;  but  finally  added — "  You 
have  been  abroad,  yourself?" 

"  I  have.  I  was  nearly  three  years  in  Europe ;  and  have  not 
been  home  yet,  quite  a  twelvemonth." 

"  You  went  into  the  east,  I  believe,  after  passing  a  few  months 
in  the  Pyrenees?"  continued  the  prisoner,  carelessly. 

"  You  are  quite  right ;  we  travelled  as  far  as  Jerusalem.  The 
journey  has  got  to  be  so  common,  that  it  is  no  longer  dangerous. 
Even  ladies  make  it,  now,  without  any  apprehension." 

"I  am  aware  of  that,  having  made  it  myself " 

"You,  Miss  Monson  !     You  been  at  Jerusalem  !" 

"  Why  not,  Mr.  Wilmeter  ?  You  say,  yourself,  that  females 
constantly  make  the  journey;  why  not  I,  as  well  as  another?" 

"  I  scarce  know,  myself;  but  it  is  so  strange  —  all  about  you 
is  so  very  extraordinary " 

"  You  think  it  extraordinary  that  one  of  my  sex,  who  has  been 
partly  educated  in  Europe,  and  who  has  travelled  in  the  Holy 
Land,  should  be  shut  up  in  this  gaol  in  Biberry — is  it  not  so  ?" 

"  That  is  one  view  of  the  matter,  I  will  confess ;  but  it  was 
scarcely  less  strange,  that  such  a  person  should  be  dwelling 
in  a  garret-room  of  a  cottage,  like  that  of  these  unfortunate 
Goodwins." 

"  That  touches  on  my  secret,  sir ;  and  no  more  need  be  said. 
You  may  judge  how  important  I  consider  that  secret,  when  I 
know  its  preservation  subjects  me  to  the  most  cruel  distrust;  and 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR  119 

that,  too,  in  the  minds  of  those  with  whom  I  wonld  so  gladly 
stand  fair.  Your  excellent  uncle,  for  instance,  and — yourself." 

"  I  should  be  much  flattered,  could  I  think  the  last  —  I  who 
have  scarcely  the  claim  of  an  acquaintance." 

"  You  forget  the  situation  in  which  your  respectable  and  most 
worthy  uncle  has  left  you  here,  Mr.  Wilmeter;  which,  of  itself, 
gives  you  higher  claims  to  my  thanks  and  confidence  than  any 
that  mere  acquaintance  could  bestow.  Besides,  we  are  not" — 
another  arch,  but  scarcely  perceptible,  smile  again  illuminated 
that  remarkable  countenance  —  "  the  absolute  strangers  to  each 
other,  that  you  seem  to  think  us." 

"  Not  strangers  ?  You  amaze  me  !  If  I  have  ever  had  the 
honour " 

"Honour!''  interrupted  Mary,  a  little  bitterly.  "It  is  truly 
a  great  honour  to  know  one  in  my  situation  !" 

"I  esteem  it  an  honour;  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  call  in 
question  my  sincerity.  If  we  have  ever  met  before,  I  will 
frankly  own  that  I  am  ignorant  of  both  the  time  and  place." 

"  This  does  not  surprise  me,  in  the  least.  The  time  is  long, 
for  persons  as  young  as  ourselves,  and  the  place  was  far  away. 
Ah !  those  were  happy  days  for  me,  and  most  gladly  would  I 
return  to  them !  But  we  have  talked  enough  on  this  subject 
I  have  declined  telling  my  tale  to  your  most  excellent  and  very 
respectable  uncle ;  you  will,  therefore,  the  more  easily  excuse  me, 
if  I  decline  telling  it  to  you." 

"  Who  am  not  '  most  excellent  and  very  respectable/  to  recom 
mend  me." 

"  Who  are  too  near  my  own  age,  to  make  you  a  proper  confi 
dant,  were  there  no  other  objection.  The  character  that  I  learned 
of  you,  when  we  met  before,  Mr.  Wilmeter,  was,  however,  one 
of  which  you  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed." 

This  was  said  gently,  but  earnestly;  was  accompanied  by  a 
most  winning  smile,  and  was  instantly  succeeded  by  a  slight 


120  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

blush.  John  Wilmeter  rubbed  his  forehead,  sooth  to  say,  in  a 
somewhat  stupid  manner,  as  if  expecting  to  brighten  his  powers 
of  recollection  by  friction.  A  sudden  change  was  given  to  the 
conversation,  however,  by  the  fair  prisoner  herself,  who  quietly 
resumed — 

"  We  will  defer  this  part  of  the  subject  to  another  time.  I 
did  not  presume  to  send  for  you,  Mr.  Wilmeter,  without  an  object, 
having  your  uncle's  authority  for  giving  you  all  this  trouble " 

"  And  my  own  earnest  request  to  be  permitted  to  serve  you, 
in  any  way  I  could." 

"  I  have  not  forgotten  that  offer,  nor  shall  I  ever.  The  man 
who  is  willing  to  serve  a  woman,  whom  all  around  her  frown 
on,  has  a  fair  claim  to  be  remembered.  Good  Mrs.  Grott  and 
yourself  are  the  only  two  friends  I  have  in  Biberry.  Even  your 
companion,  Mr.  Millington,  is  a  little  disposed  to  judge  me 
harshly." 

John  started ;  the  movement  was  so  natural,  that  his  honest 
countenance  would  have  betrayed  him,  had  he  been  disposed  to 
deny  the  imputation. 

"That  Millington  has  fallen  into  the  popular  notion  about 
here,  I  must  allow,  Miss  Monson ;  but  he  is  an  excellent  fellow 
at  the  bottom,  and  will  hear  reason.  Prejudices  that  are  beyond 
reason  are  detestable,  and  I  generally  avoid  those  whose  characters 
manifest  this  weakness ;  but  Mike  will  always  listen  to  what  he 
calls  'law  and  facts/  and  so  we  get  along  very  well  together." 

"It  is  fortunate;  since  you  are  about  to  be  so  nearly  con 
nected " 

"  Connected !    Is  it  possible  that  you  know  this  circumstance  ?" 

"You  will  find  in  the  end,  Mr.  Wilmeter,"  returned  the  pri 
soner,  smiling — this  time,  naturally,  as  one  manifests  satisfaction 
without  pain  of  any  sort  —  "  that  I  know  more  of  your  private 
affairs  than  you  had  supposed.  But  let  me  come  to  business,  if 
you  please,  sir ;  I  have  great  occasion  hero  for  a  maid-servant 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  121 

Do  you  not  think  that  Miss  Wilmeter  might  send  me  one  from 
town?" 

"  A  servant  !  I  know  the  very  woman  that  will  suit  you.  A 
perfect  jewel,  in  her  way!0 

"That  is  a  very  housekeeper  sort  of  a  character,"  rejoined 
Mary,  absolutely  laughing,  in  spite  of  her  prison  walls,  and  all 
the  terrible  charges  that  had  brought  her  within  them;  "just 
such  a  character  as  I  might  have  expected  from  Dr.  McBrain's 
intended,  Mrs.  Updyke " 

•"And  you  know  it,  too!  Why  will  you  not  tell  us  more, 
since  you  tell  us  so  much?" 

"  In  good  time,  I  suppose  all  will  come  out.  Well,  I  endea 
vour  to  submit  to  my  fate ;  or  to  the  will  of  God  !"  There  was 
no  longer  anything  merry,  ia  voice,  face,  or  manner,  but  a  simple, 
natural  pathos  was  singularly  mixed  in  the  tones  with  which 
these  few  words  were  uttered.  Then  rousing  herself,  she  gravely 
resumed  the  subject  which  had  induced  her  to  send  for  John. 

"  You  will  pardon  me,  if  I  say  that  I  would  prefer  a  woman 
chosen  and  recommended  by  your  sister,  Mr.  Wilmeter,  than  one 
chosen  and  recommended  by  yourself,"  said  Mary.  "  When  I 
shall  have  occasion  for  a  footman,  I  will  take  your  advice.  It  is 
very  important  that  I  should  engage  a  respectable,  discreet  woman; 
and  I  will  venture  to  write  a  line,  myself,  to  Miss  Wilmeter,  if 
you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  send  it.  I  know  this  is  not  the  duty 
of  a  counsel ;  but  you  see  my  situation.  Mrs.  Gott  has  offered 
to  procure  a  girl  for  me,  it  is  true;  but  the  prejudice  is  so  strong 
against  me  in  Biberry,  that  I  doubt  if  the  proper  sort  of  person 
could  be  obtained.  At  any  rate,  I  should  be  receiving  a  spy  into 
my  little  household,  instead  of  a  domestic,  in  whom  I  could  place 
confidence." 

"  Sarah  would  join  me  in  recommending  Marie,  who  has  been 
with  herself  more  than  two  years,  and  only  left  her  to  take  care 
of  her  father,  in  his  last  illness.  Another,  equally  excellent,  has 

6 


122  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

been  taken  in  her  place ;  and  now,  that  she  wishes  to  return  to 
my  sister's  service,  there  is  no  opening  for  .her,  Mike  Millington 
is  dying  to  return  to  town,  and  will  gladly  go  oyer  this  evening. 
By  breakfast-time  to-morrow,  the  woman  might  be  here,  if " 

"  She  will  consent  to  serve  a  mistress  in  my  cruel  situation. 
I  feel  the  full  weight  of  the  objection,  and  know  how  difficult  it 
will  be  to  get  a  female,  who  values  her  character  as  a  servant,  to 
enter  on  such  an  engagement.  You  called  this  woman  Marie ; 
by  that,  I  take  it  she  is  a  foreigner?77 

"A  Swiss  —  her  parents  emigrated;  but  I  knew  her  in  the 
service  of  an  Americas  family,  abroad,  and  got  her  for  Sarah. 
She  is  the  best  creature  in  the  world  —  if  sbe  can  be  persuaded 
to  come/' 

"  Had  she  been  an  American,  I  should  have  despaired  of  suc 
ceeding  unless  her  feelings  could  have  been  touched;  but,  as 
she  is  a  foreigner,  perhaps  money  will  procure  her  services. 
Should  Miss  Wilmeter  approve  of  your  selection,  sir,  I  will 
intreat  her  to  go  as  high  as  fifty  dollars  a  month,  rather  than  not 
get  the  sort  of  person  I  want.  You  can  imagine  how  much  im 
portance  I  attach  to  success.  To  escape  remarks  and  gossiping, 
the  person  engaged  can  join  me  as  a  companion,  or  friend,  and 
not  as  a  servant/' 

"  I  will  get  Mike  off  in  half  an  hour,  and  Sarah  will  at  least 
make  an  effort.  Yes,  Marie  Moulin,  or  Mary  Mill,  as  the  girls 
call  her,  is  just  the  thing  V 

(C  Marie  Moulin  !  Is  that  the  name  of  the  woman  ?  She  who 
was  in  the  service  of  the  Barringers,  at  Paris  ?  Do  you  mean 
that  person  —  five-and-thirty,  slightly  pock-marked,  with  light 
blue  eyes,  and  yellowish  hair  —  more  like  a  German,  than  her 
French  name  would  give  reason  to  expect?" 

"  The  very  same ;  and  you  knew  her,  too  !  Why  not  bring 
all  your  friends  around  you  at  once,  Miss  Monson,  and  not 
remain  here  an  hour  longer  than  is  necessary." 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  123 

Mary  was  too  intent  on  the  subject  of  engaging  the  woman  in 
question,  to  answer  this  last  appeal.  Earnestly  did  she  resume 
her  instructions,  therefore,  and  with  an  eagerness  of  manner 
young  Wilmeter  had  never  before  observed  in  her. 

"If  Marie  Moulin  be  the  person  meant,"  she  said,  "I  will 
spare  no  pains  to  obtain  her  services.  Her  attentions  to  poor 
Mrs.  Barringer,  in  her  last  illness,  were  admirable ;  and  we  all 
loved  her,  I  may  say.  Beg  your  sister  to  tell  her,  Mr.  Wilmeter, 
that  an  old  acquaintance,  in  distress,  implores  her  assistance. 
That  will  bring  Marie,  sooner  than  money,  Swiss  though  she  be/' 

"  If  you  would  write  her  a  line,  enclosing  your  real  name,  for 
we  are  persuaded  it  is  not  Monson,  it  might  have  more  effect 
than  all  our  solicitations,  in  behalf  of  one  that  is  unknown." 

The  prisoner  turned  slowly  from  the  grate,  and  walked  up  and 
down  her  gallery  for  a  minute  or  two,  as  if  pondering  on  this 
proposal.  Once  she  smiled,  and  it  almost  gave  a  lustre  to  her 
remarkable  countenance ;  then  a  cloud  passed  over  her  face,  and 
once  more  she  appeared  sad. 

"No,"  she  said,  stopping  near  the  grate  again,  in  one  of  her 
turns.  "  I  will  not  do  it  —  it  will  be  risking  too  much.  I  can 
do  nothing,  just  now,  that  will  tell  more  of  me  than  your  sister 
can  state." 

"  Should  Marie  Moulin  know  you,  she  must  recognise  you 
when  you  meet/' 

"  It  will  be  wiser  to  proceed  a  little  in  the  dark.  I  confide 
all  to  your  powers  of  negotiation,  and  shall  remain  as  tranquil  as 
possible,  until  to-morrow  morning.  There  is  still  another  little 
affair  that  I  must  trouble  you  with,  Mr.  Wilmeter.  My  gold  is 
sequestered,  as  you  know,  and  I  am  reduced  to  an  insufficient 
amount  of  twos  and  threes.  Might  I  ask  the  favour  of  you  to 
obtain  smaller  notes  for  this,  without  mentioning  in  whose 
behalf  it  is  done?" 

While  speaking,  Mary  handed  through  the  grate  a  hundred 


134  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

dollar  note  of  one  of  the  New  York  banks,  with  a  manner  so 
natural  and  unpretending,  as  at  once  to  convince  John  Wilmeter, 
ever  so  willing  to  be  persuaded  into  anything  in  her  favour,  that 
she  was  accustomed  to  the  use  of  money  in  considerable  sums; 
or,  what  might  be  considered  so,  for  the  wants  and  habits  of  a 
female.  Luckily,  he  had  nearly  money  enough  in  his  wallet  to 
change  the  note,  making  up  a  small  balance  that  was  needed,  by 
drawing  five  half-eagles  from  his  purse.  The  prisoner  held  the 
last,  in  the  open  palm  of  one  of  the  most  beautiful  little  hands 
the  eyes  of  man  ever  rested  on. 

"  This  metal  has  been  my  bane,  in  more  ways  than  one,  Mr. 
Wilmeter,"  she  said,  looking  mournfully  at  the  coin.  "Of  one 
of  its  evil  influences  on  my  fate,  I  may  not  speak,  now,  if  ever ; 
but  you  will  understand  me  when  I  say,  that  I  fear  that  gold 
piece  of  Italian  money  is  the  principal  cause  of  my  being  where 
I  am." 

"  No  doubt,  it  has  been  considered  one  of  the  most  material 
of  the  facts  against  you,  Miss  Monson;  though  it  is  by  nt 
means  conclusive,  as  evidence,  even  with  the  most  bitter  and 
prejudiced." 

"I  hope  not.  Now,  Mr.  "Wilrneter,  I  will  detain  you  no 
longer;  but  beg  you  to  do  my  commission  with  your  sister,  as 
you  would  do  it  for  her  with  me.  I  would  write,  but  my  hand 
is  so  peculiar,  it  were  better  that  I  did  not." 

Mary  Monson  now  dismissed  the  young  man,  with  the  manner 
of  one  very  familiar  with  the  tone  of  good  society  —  a  term  tha 
it  is  much  the  fashion  to  ridicule  just  now,  but  which  conveys  a 
meaning,  that  it  were  better  the  scoffers  understood.  This  she 
did,  however,  after  again  apologising  for  the  trouble  she  was 
giving,  and  thanking  him  earnestly  for  the  interest  he  took  in 
her  affairs.  We  believe  in  animal  magnetism ;  and  cannot  pre 
tend  to  say  what  is  the  secret  cause  of  the  powerful  sympathy 
that  is  so  often  suddenly  awakened  between  persons  of  different 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  125 

sexes,  and,  in  some  instances,  between  those  who  are  of  the  same 
sex ;  but  Mary  Monson,  by  that  species  of  instinct  that  teaches 
the  female  where  she  has  awakened  an  interest  livelier  than 
common,  and  possibly  where  she  has  not,  was  certainly  already 
aware  that  John  Wilmeter  did  not  regard  her  with  the  same  cool 
indifference  he  would  have  felt  towards  an  ordinary  client  of  his 
uncle's.  In  thanking  him,  therefore,  her  own  manner  manifested 
a  little  of  the  reflected  feeling  that  such  a  state  of  things  is  pretty 
certain  to  produce.  She  coloured,  and  slightly  hesitated  once,  as 
if  she  paused  to  choose  her  terms  with  more  than  usual  care ;  but, 
in  the  main,  acquitted  herself  well.  The  parting,  betrayed  inte 
rest,  perhaps  feeling,  on  both  sides ;  but  nothing  very  manifest 
escaped  either  of  our  young  people. 

Never  had  John  Wilmeter  been  at  a  greater  loss  to  interpret 
facts,  than  he  was  on  quitting  the  grate.  The  prisoner  was  truly 
the  most  incomprehensible  being  he  had  ever  met  with.  Not 
withstanding  the  fearful  nature  of  the  charges  against  her  — 
charges  that  might  well  have  given  great  uneasiness  to  the  firmest 
man  —  she  actually  seemed  in  love  with  her  prison.  It  is  true, 
that  worthy  Mrs.  Gott  had  taken  from  the  place  many  of  its 
ordinary,  repulsive  features ;  but  it  was  still  a  gaol,  and  the  sun 
could  be  seen  only  through  grates,  and  massive  walls  separated 
her  that  was  within,  from  the  world  without.  As  the  young 
man  was  predisposed  to  regard  everything  connected  with  this 
extraordinary  young  woman  couleur  de  rose,  however,  he  saw 
nothing  but  the  surest  signs  of  innocence  in  several  circumstances 
that  might  have  increased  the  distrust  of  his  cooler-headed  uncle ; 
but  most  persons  would  have  regarded  the  gentle  tranquillity 
that  now  seemed  to  soothe  a  spirit  that  had  evidently  been  much 
troubled  of  late,  as  a  sign  that  her  hand  could  never  have  com 
mitted  the  atrocities  with  which  she  was  charged. 

"Is  she  not  a  sweet  young  thing,  Mr.  Wilmeter?"  exclaimed 
kind  Mrs.  G-ott,  while  locking  the  doors  after  John,  on  hii 


126  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

retiring  from  the  grate.  "  I  consider  it  an  honour  to  Biberry 
gaol,  to  have  such  a  prisoner  within  its  walls !" 

1 l  I  believe  that  you  and  I  stand  alone  in  our  favourable 
opinion  of  Miss  Monson,"  John  answered;  "so  far,  at  least,  as 
Biberry  is  concerned.  The  excitement  against  her  seems  to  be 
at  the  highest  pitch ;  and  I  much  doubt  whether  a  fair  trial  can 
be  had  in  the  county/' 

"The  newspapers  won't  mend  the  matter,  sir.  The  papers 
from  town,  this  morning,  are  full  of  the  affair,  and  they  all 
appear  to  lean  the  same  way.  But  it 's  a  long  road  that  has  no 
turning,  Mr.  Wilmeter." 

"  Very  true,  and  nothing  wheels  ab<yit  with  a  quicker  step 
than  the  sort  of  public  opinion  that  is  got  up  under  a  cry,  and 
runs  itself  out  of  breath,  at  the  start.  I  expect  to  see  Mary 
Monson  the  most  approved  and  most  extolled  woman  in  this 
county,  yet!" 

Mrs.  Gott  hoped  with  all  her  heart  that  it  might  be  so,  though 
she  had,  certainly,  misgivings  that  the  young  man  did  not  feel. 
Half  an  hour  after  John  Wilmeter  had  left  the  gaol,  his  friend, 
Michael  Millington,  was  on  the  road  to  town,  carrying  a  letter  to 
Sarah,  with  a  most  earnest  request  that  she  would  use  all  her 
influence  with  Marie  Moulin  to  engage  in  the  unusual  service 
asked  of  her,  for  a  few  weeks,  if  for  no  longer  a  period.  This 
letter  reached  its  destination  in  due  time,  and  greatly  did  the 
sister  marvel  over  its  warmth,  as  well  as  over  the  nature  of 
the  request. 

"  I  never  knew  John  to  write  so  earnestly  !"  exclaimed  Sarah, 
when  she  and  Michael  had  talked  over  the  matter  a  few  moments. 
tf  Were  he  actually  in  love,  I  could  not  expect  him  to  be  more 
pressing." 

"I  will  not  swear  that  he  is  not/'  returned  the  friend,  laugh 
ing.  "  He  sees  everything  with  eyes  so  different  from  mine,  that 
I  scarce  know  what  to  make  of  him.  I  have  never  known  John 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  127 

BO  deeply  interested  in  any  human  being,  as  he  is  at  this  moment 
in  this  strange  creature!" 

"  Creature !  You  men  do  not  often  call  young  ladies  creatures  • 
and  my  brother  affirms  that  this  Mary  Monson  is  a  lady." 

"  Certainly  she  is,  so  far  as  exterior,  manner,  education,  and  I 
suppose,  tastes,  are  concerned.  Nevertheless,  there  is  too  much 
reason  to  think  she  is,  in  some  way  unknown  to  us,  connected 
with  crime," 

"  I  have  read  accounts  of  persons  of  these  attainments,  who 
liave  been  leagued  together,  and  have  carried  on  a  great  system 
of  plundering  for  years,  with  prodigious  success.  That,  however, 
was  in  older  countries,  where  the  necessities  of  a  crowded  popu 
lation  drive  men  into  extremes.  We  are  hardly  sufficiently  ad 
vanced,  or  civilized  as  they  call  it,  for  such  bold  villany." 

"A  suspicion  of  that  nature  has  crossed  my  mind,"  returned 
Millington,  looking  askance  over  his  shoulder,  as  if  he  apprehended 
that  his  friend  might  hear  him.  •"  It  will  not  do,  however,  to 
remotely  hint  to  John  anything  of  the  sort.  His  mind  is  be 
yond  the  influence  of  testimony." 

Sarah  scarce  knew  what  to  make  of  the  affair,  though  sisterly 
regard  disposed  her  to  do  all  she  could  to  oblige  her  brother. 
Marie  Moulin,  however,  was  not  easily  persuaded  into  consenting 
to  serve  a  mistress  who  was  in  prison.  She  held  up  her  hands, 
turned  up  her  eyes,  uttered  fifty  exclamations,  and  declared,  over 
and  over  again  "-Jest  impossible;"  and  wondered  how  a  female 
an  such  a  situation  could  suppose  any  respectable  domestic  would 
serve  her,  as  it  would  be  very  sure  to  prevent  her  ever  getting  a 
good  place  afterwards.  This  last  objection  struck  Sarah  as  quite 
-reasonable,  and  had  not  her  brother  been  so  very  urgent  with 
her,  would  of  itself  have  induced  her  to  abandon  all  attempt  at 
persuasion,  Marie,  however,  finally  yielded  to  a  feeling  of  intense 
curiosity,  when  no  bribe  in  money  could  have  bought  her.  John 
had  said  the  prisoner  knew  her — had  known  her  in  Europe — and 


128  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

she  was  soon  dying  with  the  desire  to  know  who,  of  aH  her  many 
acquaintances  in  the  old  world,  could  be  the  particular  individual 
who  had  got  herself  into  this  formidable  difficulty.  It  was  im. 
possible  to  resist  this  feeling,  so  truly  feminine,  which  was  a  good 
deal  stimulated  by  a  secret  wish  in  Sarah,  also,  to  learn  who  this 
mysterious  person  might  be ;  and  who  did  not  fail  to  urge  Mariey 
with  all  her  rhetoric,  to  consent  to  go  and,  at  least,  see  the  person 
who  had  so  strong  a  wish  to  engage  her  services.  The  Swiss  had 
not  so  much  difficulty  in  complying,  provided  she  was  permitted 
to  reserve  her  final  decision  until  she  had  met  the  prisoner,  when 
she  might  gratify  her  curiosity,  and  return  to  town  prepared  to 
enlighten  Miss  Wilmeter,  and  all  her  other  friends,  on  a  subject 
that  had  got  to  be  intensely  interesting. 

It  was  not  late,  next  morning,  when  Marie  Moulin,  attended' 
by  John  Wilmeter.  presented  herself  to  Mrs.  Grott,  as  an  appli 
cant  for  admission  to  the  gallery  of  Mary  Monson.  The  young 
man  did  not  show  himself,  on  this  occasion ;  though  he  was  near 
enough  to  hear  the  grating  of  the  hinges  when  tin.  prison-door 
opened. 

"  C'est  bien  vous  done,  Marie  \"  said  the  prisoner,  in  a  quick 
but  pleased  salutation. 

"  Mademoiselle !"  exclaimed  the  Swiss.  The  kisses  of  women 
succeeded.  The  door  closed,  and  John  Wilmeter  learned  no 
more,  on  that  occasion. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

"And  can  you  by  no  drift  of  conference 
Get  from  him,  why  he  puts  on  this  confusion — " 

Hamlet. 

THERE  is  something  imaginative,  if  not  very  picturesque,  in 
the  manner  in  which  the  lawyers  of  Manhattan  occupy  the  build 
ings  of  Nassau  street,  a  thoroughfare  which  connects  "Wall  street 
with  the  Tombs.  There  they  throng,  resembling  the  remains  of  so 
many  monuments  along  the  Appian  way,  with  a  "  siste  viator"  of 
their  own,  to  arrest  the  footsteps  of  the  wayfarer.  We  must  now 
transfer  the  scene  to  a  building  in  this  street,  which  stands  about 
half-way  between  Maiden  Lane  and  John  Street,  having  its  front 
plastered  over  with  little  tin  signs,  like  a  debtor  marked  by  writs, 
or  what  are  now  called  "  complaints."  Among  these  signs,  which 
afforded  some  such  pleasant  reading  as  an  almanac,  was  one  that 
bore  this  simple  and  reasonably  intelligent  inscription : 

"  Thomas  Dunscomb,  2d  floor,  in  front." 

It  is  somewhat  singular  that  terms  as  simple  as  those  of  first 
floor,  second  floor,  &c.,  should  not  signify  the  same  things  in  the 
language  of  the  mother  country,  and  that  of  this  land  of  progress 
and  liberty.  Certain  it  is,  nevertheless,  that  in  American  par 
lance,  more  especially  in  that  of  Manhattan,  a  first  floor  is  never 
up  one  pair  of  stairs,  as  in  London,  unless  indeed  the  flight  is 
that  by  which  the  wearied  foot-passenger  climbs  the  high  stoop 
to  gain  an  entrance  into  the  building.  In  other  words,  an  Eng 
lish  first  floor  corresponds  with  an  American  second ;  and,  taking 
6  *  (129) 


ISO  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

that  as  the  point  of  departure,  the  same  difference  exists  through 
out.  Tom  Dunscomb's  office  (or  offices  would  be  the  better  term) 
occupied  quite  half  of  the  second  story  of  a  large  double  house, 
that  had  once  been  the  habitation  of  some  private  family  of  note, 
but  which  had  long  been  abandoned  to  the  occupation  of  these 
ministers  of  the  law.  Into  those  offices  it  has  now  become  our 
duty  to  accompany  one  who  seemed  a  little  strange  in  that  den 
of  the  profession,  at  the  very  moment  he  was  perfectly  at  home. 

"Lawyer  Dunsconib  in?"  demanded  this  person,  who  had  a 
decided  rustic  mien,  though  his  dress  had  a  sort  of  legal  dye  on 
it,  speaking  to  one  of  the  five  or  six  clerks  who  raised  their  heads 
on  the  stranger's  entrance. 

"In,  but  engaged  in  a  consultation,  I  believe/'  answered  one 
who,  being  paid  for  his  services,  was  the  working  clerk  of  the 
office '}  most  of  the  others  being  students  who  get  no  remuneration 
for  their  time,  and  who  very  rarely  deserve  it. 

"I'll  wait  till  he  is  through/'  returned  the  stranger,  helping 
himself  coolly  to  a  vacant  chair,  and  taking  his  seat  in  the  midst 
of  dangers  that  might  have  alarmed  one  less  familiar  with  the 
snares,  and  quirks,  and  quiddities  of  the  law.  The  several  clerks, 
after  taking  a  good  look  each  at  their  guest,  cast  their  eyes  down 
on  their  books  or  foolscap,  and  seemed  to  be  engrossed  with  their 
respective  occupations.  Most  of  the  young  men,  members  of 
respectable  families  in  town,  set  the  stranger  down  for  a  rustic 
client ;  but  the  working  clerk  saw  at  once,  by  a  certain  self-pos 
sessed  and  shrewd  manner,  that  the  stranger  was  a  country  prac 
titioner. 

In  the  course  of  the  next  half  hour,  Daniel  Lord  and  George 
"Wood  came  out  of  the  sanctum,  attended  as  far  as  the  door  by 
Dunscomb  himself.  Exchanging  "good  morning"  with  his  pro 
fessional  friends,  the  last  caught  a  glimpse  of  his  patient  visitor, 
whom  he  immediately  saluted  by  the  somewhat  brief  and  familiar 
name  of  Timms,  inviting  him  instantly,  and  with  earnestness,  to 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  131 

come  within  the  limits  of  the  privileged.  Mr.  Timms  complied, 
entering  the  sanctum  with  the  air  of  one  who  had  been  there 
before,  and  appearing  to  be  in  no  manner  overcome  by  the  honour 
lie  enjoyed.  And  now,  as  a  faithful  chronicler  of  events,  it  is 
here  become  our  painful,  not  to  say  revolting  duty,  to  record  an 
act  on  the  part  of  the  man  who  was  known  throughout  Duke's 
county  as  'Squire  Tinims,  which  it  will  never  do  to  overlook, 
since  it  has  got  to  be  perfectly  distinctive  and  characteristic  of 
late  years,  not  of  an  individual,  but  of  large  classes  who  throng 
the  bar,  the  desk,  the  steamboats,  the  taverns,  the  streets.  A 
thousand  paragraphs  have  been  written  on  the  subject  of  Ameri 
can  spitting,  and  not  one  line,  as  we  can  remember,  on  the  subject 
of  an  equally  common  and  still  grosser  offence  against  the  minor 
morals  of  the  country,  if  decency  in  manners  may  be  thus  termed. 
Our  meaning  will  be  explained  more  fully  in  the  narrative  of  the 
stranger's  immediate  movements  on  entering  the  sanctum. 

"Take  a  seat,  Mr,  Timnis,"  said  Dunscomb,  motioning  to  a 
chair,  while  he  resumed  his  own  well-cushioned  seat,  and  deli 
berately  proceeded  to  light  a  segar,  not  without  pressing  several 
with  a  species  of  intelligent  tenderness,  between  his  thumb  and 
finger.  "Take  a  seat,  sir;  and  take  a  segar." 

Here  occurred  the  great  tour  de  force  in  manners  of  'Squire 
Thnms.  Considerately  turning  his  person  quartering  towards  his 
-host,  and  seizing  himself  by  the  nose,  much  as  if  he  had  a  quarrel 
with  that  member  of  his  face,  he  blowed  a  blast  that  sounded 
sonorously,  and  which  fulfilled  all  that  it  promised.  Now  a  better 
mannered  man  than  Dunscomb  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find.  He 
was  not  particularly  distinguished  for  elegance  of  deportment,  but 
he  was  perfectly  well-bred.  Nevertheless,  he  did  not  flinch  before 
this  broad  hint  from  vulgarity,  but  stood  it  unmoved.  To  own 
the  truth,  so  large  has  been  the  inroad  from  the  base  of  society, 
within  the  last  five-and-twenty  years,  on  the  habits  of  those  who 
once  exclusively  dwelt  together,  that  he  had  got  hardened  even 


132  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

to  this  innovation.  The  fact  is  not  to  be  concealed,  and,  as  we 
intend  never  to  touch  upon  the  subject  again,  we  shall  say  dis 
tinctly  that  Mr.  Timms  blowed  his  nose  with  his  fingers,  and  that, 
in  so  doing,  he  did  not  innovate  one  half  as  much,  to-day,  on  the 
usages  of  the  Upper  Ten  Thousand,  as  he  would  have  done  had 
he  blowed  his  nose  with  his  thumb  only,  a  quarter  of  a  century 
since. 

Dunscomb  bore  this  infliction  philosophically;  and  well  he 
might,  for  there  was  no  remedy.  Waiting  for  Timms  to  use  his 
handkerchief,  which  was  produced  somewhat  tardily  for  such  art 
operation,  he  quietly  opened  the  subject  of  their  interview. 

"  So  the  grand  jury  has  actually  found  a  bill  for  murder  and 
arson,  my  nephew  writes  me/'  Dunscomb  observed,  looking  en 
quiringly  at  his  companion,  as  if  really  anxious  for  further  intel 
ligence. 

"  Unanimously,  they  tell  me,  Mr.  Dunscomb/' answered  Timms. 
"  I  understand  that  only  one  man  hesitated,  and  he  was  brought 
round  before  they  came  into  court.  That  piece  of  money  damns 
our  case  in  old  Duke's/ ' 

"  Money  saves  more  cases  than  it  damns,  Timrns ;  and  no  one 
knows  it  better  than  yourself." 

"  Very  true,  sir.  Money  may  defy  even  the  new  code.  Give 
me  five  hundred  dollars,  and  change  the  proceedings  to  a  civil 
action,  and  I  '11  carry  anything  in  my  own  county  that  you  '11  put 
on  the  calendar,  barring  some  twenty  or  thirty  jurors  I  could 
name.  There  are  about  thirty  men  in  the  county  that  I  can  do- 
nothing  with  —  for  that  matter,  whom  I  dare  not  approach." 

"  How  the  deuce  is  it,  Timms,  that  you  manage  your  causes 
with  so  much  success  ?  for  I  remember  you  have  given  me  a  good 
deal  of  trouble  in  suits  in  which  law  and  fact  were  both  clearly 
enough  on  my  side  " 

"  I  suppose  those  must  have  been  causes  in  which  we  ' 
shedded'  and  <  pillowed'  a  good  deal." 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR        133 

"  Horse-shedded  and  pillowed  !  Those  are  legal  terms  of  which 
I  have  no  knowledge  V 

"  They  are  country  phrases,  sir,  and  country  customs  too,  for 
that  matter.  A  man  might  practise  a  long  life  in  town,  and  know 
nothing  about  them.  The  Halls  of  Justice  are  not  immaculate ; 
but  they  can  tell  us  nothing  of  horse-shedding  and  pillowing. 
They  do  business  in  a  way  of  which  we  in  the  country  are  just 
as  ignorant  as  you  are  of  our  mode." 

"  Have  the  goodness,  Timms,  just  to  explain  the  meaning  of 
your  terms,  which  are  quite  new  to  me.  I  will  not  swear  they 
are  not  in  the  Code  of  Practice,  but  they  are  in  neither  Black- 
stone  nor  Kent." 

"Horse-shedding,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  explains  itself.  In  the 
country,  most  of  the  jurors,  witnesses,  &c.,  have  more  or  less  to 
do  with  the  horse-sheds,  if  it 's  only  to  see  that  their  beasts  are 
fed.  Well,  we  keep  proper  talkers  there,  and  it  must  be  a  knotty 
case,  indeed,  into  which  an  ingenious  hand  cannot  thrust  a  doubt 
or  an  argument.  To  be  frank  with  you,  I  've  known  three  pretty 
difficult  suits  summed  up  under  a  horse-shed  in  one  day ;  and 
twice  as  many  opened." 

"But  how  is  this  done?  —  do  you  present  your  arguments 
directly,  as  in  court?" 

"  Lord  bless  you,  no.  In  court,  unless  the  jury  happen  to  be 
unusually  excellent,  counsel  have  to  pay  some  little  regard  to  the 
testimony  and  the  law ;  but,  in  horse-shedding,  one  has  no  need 
of  either.  A  skilful  horse-shedder,  for  instance,  will  talk  a  party 
to  pieces,  and  not  say  a  word  about  the  case.  That  ;s  the  perfec 
tion  of  the  business.  It 's  against  the  law,  you  know,  Mr.  Duns- 
comb,  to  talk  of  a  case  before  a  juror  —  an  indictable  offence  — 
but  one  may  make  a  case  of  a  party's  general  character,  of  his 
means,  his  miserly  qualities,  or  his  aristocracy;  and  it  will  be 
hard  to  get  hold  of  the  talker  for  any  of  them  qualities.  Aris 
tocracy,  of  late  years,  is  a  capital  argument,  and  will  suit  almost 


i34  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

any  state  of  facts,  or  any  action  you  can  bring.  Only  persuada 
the  jury  that  the  plaintiff  or  defendant  fancies  himself  better  than 
they  are,  and  the  verdict  is  certain.  I  got  a  thousand  dollars  in 
the  Springer  case,  solely  on  that  ground.  Aristocracy  did  it !  It 
is  going  to  do  us  a  great  deal  of  harm  in  this  murder  and  arson 
indictment." 

"  But  Mary  Monson  is  no  aristocrat  —  she  is  a  stranger,  and 
unknown.  What  privileges  does  she  enjoy,  to  render  her  ob 
noxious  to  the  charge  of  aristocracy?" 

"  More  than  will  do  her  any  good.  Her  aristocracy  does  her 
almost  as  much  harm  in  old  Duke's  as  the  piece  of  gold.  I 
always  consider  a  cause  as  half  lost,  when  there  is  any  aristocracy 
in  it." 

"  Aristocracy  means  exclusive  political  privileges  in  the  hands 
of  a  few ;  and  it  means  nothing  else.  Now,  what  exclusive  poli 
tical  privileges  does  this  unfortunate  young  woman  enjoy?  She 
is  accused  of  two  of  the  highest  crimes  known  to  the  laws ;  is 
indicted,  imprisoned,  and  will  be  tried." 

"Yes,  and  by  her  peers,"  said  Timms,  taking  out  a  very  re 
spectable-looking  box,  and  helping  himself  liberally  to  a  pinch 
of  cut  tobacco.  "It's  wonderful,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  how  much 
breadth  the  peerage  possesses  in  this  country !  I  saw  a  trial,  a 
year  or  two  since,  in  which  one  of  the  highest  intellects  of  the 
land  was  one  of  the  parties,  and  in  which  a  juror  asked  the  judge 
to  explain  the  meaning  of  the  word  'bereaved.'  That  citizen 
had  his  rights  referred  to  his  peers,  with  a  vengeance !" 

"  Yes  y  the  venerable  maxim  of  the  common  law  is,  occasion 
ally,  a  little  caricatured  among  us.  This  is  owing  to  our  adhering 
to  antiquated  opinions  after  the  facts  in  which  they  had  their 
origin  have  ceased  to  exist.  But,  by  your  manner  of  treating 
the  subject,  Timms,  I  infer  that  you  give  up  the  aristocracy." 

"  Not  at  all.  Our  client  will  have  more  risks  to  run  on  ac 
count  of  thai,  than  on  account  of  any  other  weak  spot  in  her 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  135 

case.  I  think  we  might  get  along  with  the  piece  of  gold,  as  a 
life  is  in  question ;  but  it  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  see  how  we  are 
to  get  along  with  the  aristocracy." 

"And  this  in  the  face  of  her  imprisonment,  solitary  condition, 
friendless  state,  and  utter  dependence  on  strangers  for  her  future 
fate  ?  I  see  no  one  feature  of  aristocracy  to  reproach  her 
with." 

"  But  I  see  a  great  many,  and  so  does  the  neighbourhood.  It 
is  already  getting  to  be  the  talk  of  half  the  county.  In  short, 
all  are  talking  about  it,  but  they  who  know  better.  You  '11  see, 
'  Squire  Dunscomb,  there  are  two  sorts  of  aristocracy  in  the  eyes 
of  most  people ;  your  sort,  and  my  sort.  Your  sort  is  a  state  of 
society  that  gives  privileges  and  power  to  a  few,  and  keeps  it 
there.  That  is  what  I  call  old-fashioned  aristocracy,  about  which 
nobody  cares  anything  in  this  country.  We  have  no  such  aristo 
crats,  I  allow,  and  consequently  they  don't  signify  a  straw." 

"  Yet  they  are  the  only  true  aristocrats,  after  all.  But  what, 
or  who  are  yours." 

"Well  now,  'Squire,  you  are  a  sort  of  aristocrat  yourself,  in  a 
certain  way.  I  don't  know  how  it  is — I'm  admitted  to  the  bar 
as  well  as  you  —  have  just  as  many  rights — " 

"  More,  Timms,  if  leading  jurors  by  the  nose,  and  horse-shed 
ding,  can  be  accounted  rights." 

"  Well,  more,  in  some  respects,  may  be.  Notwithstanding  all 
this,  there  is  a  difference  between  us  —  a  difference  in  our  ways, 
in  our  language,  in  our  ideas,  our  manner  of  thinking  and  acting, 
that  sets  you  up  above  me  in  a  way  I  should  not  like  in  any  other 
man.  As  you  did  so  much  for  me  when  a  boy,  sir,  and  carried 
me  through  to  the  bar  on  your  shoulders,  as  it  might  be,  I  shall 
always  look  up  to  you ;  though  I  must  say  that  I  do  not  always 
like  even  your  superiority." 

"  I  should  be  sorry,  Timms,  if  I  ever  so  far  forget  my  own 
great  defects,  as  to  parade  unfeelingly  any  little  advantages  I 


136  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

may  happen  to  possess  over  you,  or  over  any  other  man,  in  con 
sequence  of  the  accidents  of  birth  and  education/' 

"  You  do  not  parade  them  unfeelingly,  sir ;  you  do  not  parade 
them  at  all.  Still,  they  will  show  themselves ;  and  they  are  just 
the  things  I  do  not  like  to  look  at.  Now,  what  is  true  of  me,  is 
true  of  all  my  neighbours.  "VVe  call  anything  aristocracy  that  is 
a  touch  above  us,  let  it  be  what  it  may.  I  sometimes  think 
'Squire  Dunscomb  is  a  sort  of  an  aristocrat  in  the  law !  Now,  as 
for  our  client,  she  has  a  hundred  ways  with  her  that  are  not  the 
ways  of  Duke's,  unless  you  go  among  the  tip-toppers." 

"The  Upper  Ten " 

"Pshaw  !  I  know  better  than  that  myself,  'Squire.  Their 
Upper  Ten  should  be  upper  one,  or  two,  to  be  common  sense. 
Rude  and  untaught  as  I  was  until  you  took  me  by  the  hand,  sir, 
I  can  tell  the  difference  between  those  who  wear  kids,  and  ride  in 
their  coaches,  and  those  who  are  fit  for  either.  Our  client  has 
none  of  this,  sir ;  and  that  it  is  which  surprises  me.  She  has  no 
Union  Place,  or  Fifth  Avenue,  about  her;  but  is  the  true  coin. 
There  is  one  thing  in  particular  that  I  'm  afraid  may  do  her 
harm." 

"  It  is  the  true  coin  which  usually  passes  with  the  least  trouble 
from  hand  to  hand.  But  what  is  this  particular  source  of  unear 
einess  ?" 

"Why,  the  client  has  a  lady-friend " 

A  little  exclamation  from  Dunscomb  caused  the  speaker  to 
pause,  while  the  counsellor  removed  the  segar  from  his  mouth, 
knocked  off  its  ashes,  and  appeared  to  ponder  for  a  moment, 
touching  the  best  manner  of  treating  a  somewhat  delicate  subject. 
At  length,  native  frankness  overcame  all  scruples,  and  he  spoke 
plainly,  or  as  the  familiar  instructor  might  be  expected  to  address 
a  very  green  pupil. 

"  If  you  love  me,  Timms,  never  repeat  that  diabolical  phrase 
again,"  said  Dup*comb,  looking  quite  serious,  however  much 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  137 

there  might  have  been  of  affectation  in  his  aspect.  "  It  is  even 
•worse  than  Hurlgate,  which  I  have  told  you  fifty  times  I  cannot 
endure.  '  Lady  friend'  is  infernally  vulgar,  and  I  will  not  stand 
it.  You  may  blow  your  nose  with  your  fingers,  if  it  give  you 
especial  satisfaction,  and  you  may  blow  out  against  aristocracy  as 
much  as  you  please ;  but  you  shall  not  talk  to  me  about  '  lady- 
friends'  or  '  Hurlgate.'  I  am  no  dandy,  but  a  respectable  elderly 
gentleman,  who  professes  to  speak  English,  and  who  wishes  to  be 
addressed  in  his  own  language.  Heaven  knows  what  the  country 
is  coming  to!  There  is  Webster,  to  begin  with,  cramming  a 
Yankee  dialect  down  our  throats  for  good  English ;  then  comes 
all  the  cant  of  the  day,  flourishing  finical  phrases,  and  new  signi 
fications  to  good  old  homely  words,  and  changing  the  very  nature 
of  mankind  by  means  of  terms.  Last  of  all,  is  this  infernal  Code, 
in  which  the  ideas  are  as  bad  as  possible,  and  the  terms  still  worse. 
But  whom  do  you  mean  by  your  i  lady-friend  T  '' 

"  The  French  lady  that  has  been  with  our  client,  now,  for  a 
fortnight.  Depend  on  it,  she  will  do  us  no  good  when  we  are  on. 
She  is  too  aristocratic  altogether." 

Dunscomb  laughed  outright.  Then  he  passed  a  hand  across 
his  brow,  and  seemed  to  muse. 

"All  this  is  very  serious,"  he  at  length  replied,  "  and  is  really 
no  laughing  matter.  A  pretty  pass  are  we  Doming  to,  if  the 
administration  of  the  law  is  to  be  influenced  by  such  things  as 
these  !  The  doctrine  is  openly  held  that  the  rich  shall  not,  ought 
not  to  embellish  their  amusements  at  a  cost  that  the  poor  cannot 
compass;  and  here  we  have  a  member  of  the  bar  telling  us  a 
prisoner  shall  not  have  justice  because  she  has  a  foreign  maid 
servant  !" 

"  A  servant !  Call  her  anything  but  that,  'Squire,  if  you  wish 
for  success  !  A  prisoner  accused  of  capital  crimes,  with  a  servant, 
would  be  certain  to  be  condemned.  Even  the  court  would  hardly 
stand  that." 


138  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR 

"  Timms,  you  are  a  shrewd,  sagacious  fellow,  and  are  apt  to 
laugh  in  your  sleeve  at  follies  of  this  nature,  as  I  well  know  from 
long  acquaintance ;  and  here  you  insist  on  one  of  the  greatest  of 
all  the  absurdities." 

"  Things  are  changed  in  Ameriky,  Mr.  Dunscomb.  The  people 
are  beginning  to  govern ;  and  when  they  can't  do  it  legally,  they 
do  it  without  law.  Don't  you  see  what  the  papers  say  about 
having  operas  and  play-houses  at  the  people's  prices,  and  the 
right  to  hiss  ?  There's  Constitution  for  you !  I  wonder  what 
Kent  and  Blackstone  would  say  to  that?" 

"  Sure  enough.  They  would  find  some  novel  features  in  a 
liberty  which  says  a  man  shall  not  set  the  price  on  the  seats  in 
his  own  theatre,  and  that  the  hissing  may  be  done  by  an  audience 
in  the  streets.  The  facts  are,  Timms,  that  all  these  abuses  about 
O.  P.'s,  and  controlling  other  persons'  concerns  under  the  pre 
tence  that  the  public  has  rights  where,  as  a  public,  it  has  no 
rights  at  all,  come  from  the  reaction  of  a  half-way  liberty  in  other 
countries.  Here,  where  the  people  are  really  free,  having  all  the 
power,  and  where  no  political  right  is  hereditary,  the  people 
ought,  at  least,  to  respect  their  own  ordinances." 

"  Do  you  not  consider  a  theatre  a  public  place,  'Squire  Duns- 
comb  ?" 

"  In  one  sense  it  is,  certainly ;  but  not  in  the  sense  that  bears 
on  this  pretended  power  over  it  The  very  circumstance  that 
the  audience  pay  for  their  seats,  makes  it,  in  law  as  in  fact,  a 
matter  of  covenant.  As  for  this  newfangled  absurdity  about  its 
being  a  duty  to  furnish  low-priced  seats  for  the  poor,  where  they 
may  sit  and  look  at  pretty  women  because  they  cannot  see  them 
elsewhere,  it  is  scarcely  worth  an  argument.  If  the  rich  should 
demand  that  the  wives  aud  daughters  of  the  poor  should  be 
paraded  in  the  pits  and  galleries,  for  their  patrician  eyes  to  feast 
on,  a  pretty  clamour  there  would  be  !  If  the  state  requires  cheap 
theatres,  and  cheap  women,  let  the  state  pay  for  them,  as  it  doea 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  139 

for  its  other  wants ;  but,  if  these  amusements  are  to  be  the  object 
of  private  speculations,  let  private  wisdom  control  them.  I  have 
TIO  respect  for  one-sided  liberty,  let  it  cant  as  much  as  it  may." 

"  Well,  I  don't  know,  sir ;  I  have  read  some  of  these  articles, 
and  they  seemed  to  me " 

"  What  —  convincing  ?' ' 

"Perhaps  not  just  that,  'Squire;  but  very  agreeable.  I'm 
not  rich  enough  to  pay  for  a  high  place  at  an  opera  or  a  theatre ; 
and  it  is  pleasant  to  fancy  that  a  poor  feller  can  get  one  of  the 
best  seats  at  half-price.  Now,  in  England,  they  tell  me,  the 
public  won't  stand  prices  they  don't  like." 

"  Individuals  of  the  public  may  refuse  to  purchase,  and  there 
their  rights  cease.  An  opera,  in  particular,  is  a  very  expensive 
amusement;  and  in  all  countries  where  the  rates  of  admission 
are  low,  the  governments  contribute  to  the  expenditures.  This 
is  done  from  policy,  to  keep  the  people  quiet,  and  possibly  to 
help  civilize  them ;  but,  if  we  are  not  far  beyond  the  necessity  of 
any  such  expedients,  our  institutions  are  nothing  but  a  sublime 
mystification." 

"It  is  wonderful,  'Squire,  how  many  persons  see  the  loose 
side  of  democracy,  who  have  no  notion  of  the  tight !  But,  all 
this  time,  our  client  is  in  gaol  at  Biberry,  and  must  be  tried  next 
week.  Has  nothing  been  done,  'Squire,  to  choke  off  the  news 
papers,  who  have  something  to  say  about  her  almost  every  day. 
It's  quite  time  the  other  side  should  be  heard." 

"  It  is  very  extraordinary  that  the  persons  who  control  these 
papers  should  be  so  indifferent  to  the  rights  of  others  as  to  allow 
such  paragraphs  to  find  a  place  in  their  columns." 

"  Indifferent !  What  do  they  care,  so  long  as  the  journal  sells  ? 
In  our  case,  however,  I  rather  suspect  that  a  certain  reporter  has 
taken  offence ;  and  when  men  of  that  class  get  offended,  look  out 
for  news  of  the  colour  of  their  anger.  Is  n't  it  wonderful,  'Squira 
Dunscomb,  that  the  people  don't  see  and  feej.  that  they  are  sus- 


140  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

taining  low  tyrants,  in  two-thirds  of  their  silly  clamour  about 
the  liberty  of  the  press?" 

"  "Many  do  see  it ;  and  I  think  this  engine  has  lost  a  great 
deal  of  its  influence  within  the  last  few  years.  As  respects  pro 
ceedings  in  the  courts,  there  never  will  be  any  true  liberty  in  the 
country,  until  the  newspapers  are  bound  hand  and  foot." 

"  You  are  right  enough  in  one  thing,  'Squire,  and  that  is  in 
the  ground  the  press  has  lost.  It  has  pretty  much  used  itself  up 
in  Duke's;  and  I  would  pillow  and  horse-shed  a  cause  through 
against  it,  the  best  day  it  ever  saw  I" 

"  By  the  way,  Timms,  you  have  not  explained  the  pillowing 
process  to  me." 

"I  should  think  the  word  itself  would  do  that,  sir.  You 
know  how  it  is  in  the  country.  Half  a  dozen  beds  are  put  in  the 
same  room,  and  two  in  a  bed.  "Waal,  imagine  three  or  four  jurors 
in  one  of  these  rooms,  and  two  chaps  along  with  'em,  with  in 
structions  how  to  talk.  The  conversation  is  the  most  innocent 
and  nat'ral  in  the  world ;  not  a  word  too  much  or  too  little ;  but 
it  sticks  like  a  bur.  The  juror  is  a  plain,  simple-minded  country 
man,  and  swallows  all  that  his  room-mates  say,  and  goes  into  the 
box  next  day  in  a  beautiful  frame  of  mind  to  listen  to  reason  and 
evidence  !  No,  no ;  give  me  two  or  three  of  these  pillow-coun 
sellors,  and  I  '11  undo  all  that  the  journals  can  do,  in  a  single 
conversation.  You'll  remember,  'Squire,  that  we  get  the  last 
word  by  this  system ;  and  if  the  first  blow  is  half  the  battle  in 
war,  the  last  word  is  another  half  in  the  law.  Oh  !  it 's  a  beau 
tiful  business,  is  this  trial  by  jury." 

"  All  this  is  very  wrong,  Timms.  For  a  long  time  I  have 
known  that  you  have  exercised  an  extraordinary  influence  over 
the  jurors  of  Duke's ;  but  this  is  the  first  occasion  on  which  you 
have  been  frank  enough  to  reveal  the  process.0 

"  Because  this  is  the  first  occasion  on  which  we  have  ever  had 
a  capital  case  together.  In  the  present  state  of  public  opinion 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  141 

in  Duke's,  I  much  question  whether  we  can  get  a  jury  empan- 
nelled  in  this  trial  at  all." 

"  The  Supreme  Court  will  then  send  us  to  town,  by  way  of 
mending  the  matter.  Apropos,  Timms " 

"  One  word  if  you  please,  'Squire  ;  what  does  a  propos  really 
mean  ?  I  hear  it  almost  every  day,  but  never  yet  knew  the 
meaning." 

"  It  has  shades  of  difference  in  its  signification — as  I  just  used 
it,  it  means  c  speaking  of  that.' ): 

"  And  is  it  right  to  say  a  propos  to  such  a  thing  ?" 

"  It  is  better  to  say  a  propos  of,  as  the  French  do.  In  old 
English  it  was  always  to ;  but  in  our"  later  mode  of  speaking,  we 
say  <otV  " 

11  Thank  you,  sir.  You  know  how  I  glean  my  knowledge  in 
driblets;  and  out  in  the  country  not  always  from  the  highest 
authorities.  Plain  and  uncouth  as  I  know  I  appear  to  you,  and 
to  Miss  Sarah,  I  have  an  ambition  to  be  a  gentleman.  Now,  I 
have  observation  enough  to  see  that  it  is  these  little  matters,  after 
all,  and  not  riches  and  fine  clothes,  that  make  gentlemen  and 
ladies." 

"  I  am  glad  you  have  so  much  discrimination,  Timms ;  but, 
you  must  permit  me  to  remark,  that  you  will  never  make  a  gen 
tleman  until  you  learn  to  let  your  nose  alone." 

"  Thank  you,  sir  —  I  am  thankful  for  even  the  smallest  hints 
on  manners.  It 's  a  pity  that  so  handsome  and  so  agreeable  a 
young  lady  should  be  hanged,  Mr.  Dunscomb  I" 

"  Timms,  you  are  as  shrewd  a  fellow,  in  your  own  way,  as  I 
know.  Your  law  does  not  amount  to  any  great  matter,  nor  do 
you  take  hold  of  the  strong  points  of  a  case  very  often ;  but  you 
perform  wonders  with  the  weaker.  In  the  way  of  an  opinion  on 
facts,  I  know  few  men  more  to  be  relied  on.  Tell  me,  then, 
frankly,  what  do  you  think  of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  Mary 
Monson?" 


142  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

Timms  screwed  up  his  mouth,  passed  a  hand  over  his  brow; 
and  did  not  answer  for  near  a  minute. 

"  Perhaps  it  is  right,  after  all,  that  we  should  understand  each 
other  on  this  subject/'  he  then  said.  "  We  are  associated  as 
counsel,  and  I  feej.  it  a  great  honour  to  be  so  associated,  '  Squire 
Dunscomb,  I  give  you  my  word ;  and  it  is  proper  that  we  should 
be  as  free  with  each  other  as  brothers.  In  the  first  place,  then, 
I  never  saw  such  a  client  before,  as  this  same  lady  —  for  lady  I 
suppose  we  must  call  her  until  she  is  convicted " 

"  Convicted ! — You  cannot  think  there  is  much  danger  of  that, 
Timms?" 

"  We  never  know,  sir ;  we  never  know.  I  have  lost  cases  of 
which  I  was  sure,  and  gained  them  of  which  I  had  no  hopes  — 
cases  which  I  certainly  ought  not  to  have  gained  —  ag'in  all  law 
and  the  facts." 

u  Ay,  that  came  of  the  horse-shed,  and  the  sleeping  of  two  in 
a  bed." 

"Perhaps  it  did,  'Squire/'  returned  Timms,  laughing  very 
freely,  though  without  making  any  noise ;  "  perhaps  it  did.  When 
the  small-pox  is  about,  there  is  no  telling  who  may  take  it.  As 
for  this  case,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  it  is  my  opinion  we  shall  have 
to  run  for  disagreements.  If  we  can  get  the  juries  to  disagree 
once  or  twice,  and  can  get  a  change  of  venue,  with  a  couple  of 
charges,  the  deuce  is  in  it  if  a  man  of  your  experience  don't 
corner  them  so  tightly,  they  '11  give  the  matter  up,  rather  than 
have  any  more  trouble  about  it.  After  all,  the  state  can't  gain 
much  by  hanging  a  young  woman  that  nobody  knows,  even  if 
she  be  a  little  aristocratical.  We  must  get  her  to  change  her 
dress  altogether,  and  some  of  her  ways  too ;  which,  in  her  circum 
stances,  I  call  downright  hanging  ways  j  and  the  sooner  she  is 
rid  of  them,  the  better." 

"I  see  that  you  do  not  think  us  very  strong  on  the  merits, 
Timms,  which  is  as  much  as  admitting  the  guilt  of  our  client.  I 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  143 

was  a  good  deal  inclined  to  suspect  the  worst  myself;  but  two  or 
three  more  interviews,  and  what  my  nephew  Jack  Wilmeter  tells 
me,  have  produced  a  change.  I  am  now  strongly  inclined  to 
believe  her  innocent.  She  has  some  great  and  secret  cause  of 
apprehension,  I  will  allow ;  but  I  do  not  think  these  unfortunate 
Goodwins  have  anything  to  do  with  it." 

"  Waal,  one  never  knows.  The  verdict,  if  '  not  guilty/  will 
be  just  as  good  as  if  she  was  as  innocent  as  a  child  a  year  old. 
I  see  how  the  work  is  to  be  done.  All  the  law.  and  the  summing 
up,  will  fall  to  your  share ;  while  the  out-door  work  will  be  mine. 
"We  may  carry  her  through  —  though  I  'm  of  opinion  that,  if  we 
do,  it  will  be  more  by  means  of  bottom  than  by  means  of  foot. 
There  is  one  thing  that  is  very  essential,  sir  —  the  money  must 
hold  out," 

"Do  you  want  a  refresher  so  soon.  Timms?  —  Jack  tells 
me  that  she  has  given  you  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
already!" 

"  I  acknowledge  it,  sir ;  and  a  very  respectable  fee  it  is  —  you 
ought  to  have  a  thousand,  '  Squire/' 

"  I  have  not  received  a  cent,  nor  do  I  mean  to  touch  any  of 
her  money.  My  feelings  are  in  the  case,  and  I  am  willing  to 
work  for  nothing." 

Timms  gave  his  old  master  a  quick  but  scrutinizing  glance. 
Dunscomb  was  youthful,  in  all  respects,  for  his  time  of  life ;  and 
many  a  man  has  loved,  and  married,  and  become  the  parent  of  a 
flourishing  family,  who  had  seen  all  the  days  he  had  seen.  That 
glance  was  to  inquire  if  it  were  possible  that  the  uncle  and  ne 
phew  were  likely  to  be  rivals,  and  to  obtain  as  much  knowledge 
as  could  be  readily  gleaned  in  a  quick,  jealous  look.  But  the 
counsellor  was  calm  as  usual,  and  no  tinge  of  colour,  no  sigh,  no 
gentleness  of  expression,  betrayed  the  existence  of  the  master 
passion.  It  was  reported  among  the  bachelor's  intimates  that 
formerly,  when  he  was  about  five-and-twenty,  he  had  had  an 


144  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

affair  of  the  heart,  which  had  taken  such  deep  hold  that  even 
the  lady's  marriage  with  another  man  had  not  destroyed  its  im 
pression.  That  marriage  was  said  not  to  have  been  happy,  and 
was  succeeded  by  a  second,  that  was  still  less  so;  though  the 
parties  were  affluent,  educated,  and  possessed  all  the  means  that 
•are  commonly  supposed  to  produce  felicity.  A  single  child  was 
the  issue  of  the  first  marriage,  and  its  birth  had  shortly  preceded 
the  separation  that  followed.  Three  years  later  the  father  died, 
leaving  the  whole  of  a  very  ample  fortune  to  this  child,  coupled 
with  the  strange  request  that  Dunscomb,  once  the  betrothed  of 
her  mother,  should  be  the  trustee  and  guardian  of  the  daughter. 
This  extraordinary  demand  had  not  been  complied  with,  and 
Dunscomb  had  not  seen  any  of  the  parties  from  the  time  he 
broke  with  his  mistress.  The  heiress  married  young,  died  within 
the  year,  and  left  another  heiress ;  but  no  further  allusion  to  our 
counsellor  was  made,  in  any  of  the  later  wills  and  settlements. 
Once,  indeed,  he  had  been  professionally  consulted  concerning 
the  devises  in  favour  of  the  granddaughter — a  certain  Mildred 
Millington  —  who  was  a  second-cousin  to  Michael  of  that  name, 
and  as  rich  as  he  was  poor.  For  some  years,  a  sort  of  vague 
expectation  prevailed  that  these  two  young  Millingtons  might 
marry ;  but  a  feud  existed  in  the  family,  and  little  or  no  inter 
course  was  permitted.  The  early  removal  of  the  young  lady  to 
a  distant  school  prevented  such  a  result;  and  Michael,  in  due 
time,  fell  within  the  influence  of  Sarah  Wilmeter's  gentleness, 
beauty,  and  affection. 

Timms  came  to  the  conclusion  that  his  old  master  was  not  in 
love. 

"  It  is  very  convenient  to  be  rich,  'Squire,"  this  singular  being 
remarked ;  "  and  I  dare  say  it  may  be  very  pleasant  to  practise 
for  nothing,  when  a  man  has  his  pocket  full  of  money.  I  am 
poor,  and  have  particular  satisfaction  in  a  good  warm  fee.  By 
the  way,  sir,  my  part  of  the  business  requires  plenty  of  money. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  145 

1  do  not  think  I  can  even  commence  operations  with  less  than 
five  hundred  dollars." 

Dunscomb  leaned  back,  stretched  forth  an  arm,  drew  his 
cheque-book  from  its  niche,  and  filled  a  cheque  for  the  sum  just 
mentioned.  This  he  quietly  handed  to  Timms,  without  asking 
for  any  receipt  5  for,  while  he  knew  that  his  old  student  and 
fellow-practitioner  was  no  more  to  be  trusted  in  matters  of  prac 
tice  than  was  an  eel  in  the  hand,  he  knew  that  he  was  scrupu 
lously  honest  in  matters  of  account.  There  was  not  a  man  in 
the  state  to  whom  Dunscomb  would  sooner  confide  the  care  of 
uncounted  gold,  or  the  administration  of  an  estate,  or  the  pay 
ment  of  a  legacy,  than  this  very  individual ;  who,  he  also  well 
knew,  would  not  scruple  to  set  all  the  provisions  of  the  law  ac 
naught,  in  order  to  obtain  a  verdict,  when  his  feelings  were  really 
in  the  case. 

"There,  Timms/7  said  the  senior  counsel,  glancing  at  his 
draft  before  he  handed  it  to  the  other,  in  order  to  see  that  it  was 
correct ;  "  there  is  what  you  ask  for.  Five  hundred  for  expenses, 
and  half  as  much  as  a  fee." 

"  Thank  you,  sir.  I  hope  this  is  not  gratuitous,  as  well  as  the 
services?" 

"  It  is  not.  There  is  no  want  of  funds,  and  I  am  put  in  pos 
session  of  sufficient  money  to  carry  us  through  with  credit ;  but 
it  is  as  a  trustee,  and  not  as  a  fee.  This,  indeed,  is  the  most 
extraordinary  part  of  the  whole  affair;  —  to  find  a  delicate,  edu 
cated,  accomplished  lady,  with  her  pockets  well  lined,  in  such  a 
situation !" 

"Why,  ' Squire,"  said  Timms,  passing  his  hand  down  his 
chin,  and  trying  to  look  simple  and  disinterested,  "  I  am  afraid 
clients  like  ours  are  often  flush.  I  have  been  employed  about 
the  Tombs  a  good  deal  in  my  time,  and  I  have  gin'rally  found 
that  the  richest  clients  were  the  biggest  rogues." 

7 


146  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

Dunscomb  gave  his  companion  a  long  and  contemplative  look. 
He  saw  that  Timms  did  not  entertain  quite  as  favourable  an 
opinion  of  Mary  Monson  as  he  did  himself,  or  rather  that  he  was 
fast  getting  to  entertain;  for  his  own  distrust  originally  was 
scarcely  less  than  that  of  this  hackneyed  dealer  with  human  vices. 
A  long,  close,  and  stringent  examination  of  all  of  Timms's  facts 
succeeded  —  facts  that  had  been  gleaned  by  collecting  statements 
on  the  spot.  Then  a  consultation  followed,  from  which  it  might 
be  a  little  premature,  just  now,  to  raise  the  veil 


CHAPTER  IX. 

u Her  speech  is  nothing, 

Yet  the  unshaped  use  of  it  doth  move 

The  hearers  to  collection.     They  aim  at  it, 

And  botch  the  words  up  fit  to  their  own  thoughts." 

Hamlet. 

THE  reader  is  not  to  be  surprised  at  the  intimacy  which  existed 
between  Thomas  Dunscomb  and  the  half-educated  semi-rude  being 
who  was  associated  with  him  as  counsel  in  the  important  cavise 
that  was  now  soon  to  be  tried.  Such  intimacies  are  by  no  meaxxi 
uncommon  in  the  course  of  events ;  men  often  overlooking  great 
dissimilarities  in  principles,  as  well  as  in  personal  qualities,  iu 
managing  tKeir  associations,  so  far  as  they  are  connected  with 
the  affairs  of  this  world.  The  circumstance  that  Timms  had 
studied  in  our  counsellor's  office  would,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
produce  certain  relations  between  them  in  after-life;  but  the 
student  had  made  himself  useful  to  his  former  master  on  a  great 
variety  of  occasions,  and  was  frequently  employed  by  him  when 
ever  there  was  a  cause  depending  in  the  courts  of  Duke's,  the 
county  in  which  the  unpolished,  half-educated,  but  hard-working 
and  successful  county  practitioner  had  established  himself.  It 
may  be  questioned  if  Dunscomb  really  knew  all  the  agencies  set 
in  motion  by  his  coadjutor  in  difficult  cases;  but,  whether  he  did 
or  not,  it  is  quite  certain  that  many  of  them  were  of  a  character 
not  to  see  the  light.  It  is  very  much  the  fashion  of  our  good 
republic  to  turn  up  its  nose  at  all  other  lands,  a  habit  no  doubt 

(147) 


148  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR, 

inherited  from  our  great  ancestors  the  English ;  and  one  of  its 
standing  themes  of  reproach  are  the  legal  corruptions  and  abuses 
known  to  exist  in  France,  Spain,  Italy,  &c. ;  all  over  the  world, 
in  short,  except  among  ourselves.  So  far  as  the  judges  are  con 
cerned,  there  is  a  surprising  adherence  to  duty,  when  bribes  alone 
are  concerned,  no  class  of  men  on  earth  being  probably  less  ob 
noxious  to  just  imputations  of  this  character  than  the  innumera 
ble  corps  of  judicial  officers;  unpaid,  poor,  hard-worked,  and  we 
might  almost  add  unhonoured,  as  they  are.  That  cases  in  which 
bribes  are  taken  do  occur,  we  make  no  doubt;  it  would  be 
assuming  too  much  in  favour  of  human  nature  to  infer  the  con 
trary;  but,  under  the  system  of  publicity  that  prevails,  it  would 
not  be  easy  for  this  crime  to  extend  very  far  without  its  being 
exposed.  It  is  greatly  to 'the  credit  of  the  vast  judicial  corps  of 
the  States,  that  bribery  is  an  offence  which  does  not  appear  to  be 
even  suspected  at  all ;  or,  if  there  be  exceptions  to  the  rule,  they 
exist  in  but  few  and  isolated  cases.  Here,  however,  our  eulogies 
on  American  justice  must  cease.  All  that  Timms  has  intimated 
and  Dunscomb  has  asserted  concerning  the  juries  is  true;  and 
the  evil  is  one  that  each  day  increases.  The  tendency  of  every 
thing  belonging  to  the  government  is  to  throw  power  directly 
into  the  hands  of  the  people,  who,  in  nearly  all  cases,  use  it  as 
men  might  be  supposed  to  do  who  are  perfectly  irresponsible, 
have  only  a  remote,  and  half  the  time  an  invisible  interest  in  its 
exercise ;  who  do  not  feel  or  understand  the  consequences  of  their 
own  deeds,  and  have  a  pleasure  in  asserting  a  seeming  independ 
ence,  and  of  appearing  to  think  and  act  for  themselves.  Under 
such  a  regime  it  is  self-apparent  that  principles  and  law  must 
suffer ;  and  so  the  result  proves  daily,  if  not  hourly.  The  insti 
tution  of  the  jury,  one  of  very  questionable  utility  in  its  best 
aspects  in  a  country  of  really  popular  institutions,  becomes  nearly 
intolerable,  unless  the  courts  exercise  a  strong  and  salutary  influ 
ence  on  the  discharge  of  its  duties.  This  influence,  unhappily,  has 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR.  149 

been  gradually  lessening  among  us  for  the  last  half  century,  until 
it  has  reached  a  point  where  nothing  is  more  common  than  to 
find  the  judge  charging  the  law  one  way,  and  the  jury  determining 
it  another.  In  most  cases,  it  is  true,  there  is  a  remedy  for  this 
abuse  of  power,  but  it  is  costly,  and  ever  attended  with  that  delay 
in  hope  "which  maketh  the  heart  sick/7  Any  one,  of  even  the 
dullest  apprehension,  must,  on  a  little  reflection,  perceive  that  a 
condition  of  things  in  which  the  ends  of  justice  are  defeated,  or 
so  procrastinated  as  to  produce  the  results  of  defeat,  is-  one  of  the 
least  desirable  of  all  those  in  which  men  can  be  placed  under  the 
social  compact  j  to  say  nothing  of  its  corrupting  and  demoralizing 
effects  on  the  public  mind. 

All  this  Dunscomb  saw,  more  vividly,  perhaps,  than  most 
others  of  the  profession,  for  men  gradually  get  to  be  so  accus 
tomed  to  abuses  as  not  only  to  tolerate  them,  but  to  come  to 
consider  them  as  evils  inseparable  from  human  frailty.  It  was 
certain,  however,  that  while  our  worthy  counsellor  so  far  sub 
mitted  to  the  force  of  things  as  frequently  to  close  his  eyes  to 
Timms' s  manoeuvres,  a  weakness  of  which  nearly  every  one  is 
guilty  who  has  much  to  do  with  the  management  of  men  and 
things,  he  was  never  known  to  do  aught  himself  that  was  un 
worthy  of  his  high  standing  and  well-merited  reputation  at  the 
bar.  There  is  nothing  unusual  in  this  convenient  compromise 
between  direct  and  indirect  relations  with  that  which  is  wrong. 

It  had  early  been  found  necessary  to  employ  local  counsel  in 
Mary  Monson's  case,  and  Timms  was  recommended  by  his  old 
master  as  one  every  way  suited  to  the  particular  offices  needed. 
Most  of  the  duties  to  be  performed  were  strictly  legal ;  though  it 
is  not  to  be  concealed  that  some  soon  presented  themselves  that 
would  not  bear  the  light.  John  Wilmeter  communicated  to 
Timms  the  particular  state  of  the  testimony,  as  he  and  Michael 
Millington  had  been  enabled  to  get  at  it ;  and  among  other  things 
he  stated  his  conviction  that  the  occupants  of  the  farm  nearest  to 


450  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

the  late  dwelling  of  the  Goodwins  were  likely  to  prove  some  of 
the  most  dangerous  of  the  witnesses  against  their  client.  This 
family  consisted  of  a  sister-in-law,  the  Mrs.  Burton  already  men 
tioned,  three  unmarried  sisters,  and  a  brother,  who  was  the  hus 
band  of  the  person  first  named.  On  tlds  hint  Timms  immediately 
put  himself  in  communication  with  these  neighbours,  concealing 
from  them,  as  well  as  from  all  others  but  good  Mrs.  Gott,  that 
he  was  retained  in  the  case  at  all. 

Timms  was  soon  struck  with  the  hints  and  half-revealed  state 
ments  of  the  persons  of  this  household ,  more  especially  with 
those  of  the  female  portion  of  it.  The  man  appeared  to  him  to 
have  observed  lees  than  his  wife  and  sisters ;  but  even  he  had 
much  to  relate,t  though,  as  Timms  fancied,  more  that  he  had 
gleaned  from  those  arouad  him,  than  from  his  own  observations. 
The  sisters,  however,  had  a  good  deal  to  say ;  while  the  wife,  though 
silent  and  guarded,  seemed  to  this  observer,  as  well  as  to  young 
Millington,  to  know  the  mot?t.  When  pressed  to  tell  all,  Mrs. 
Burton  looked  melancholy  and  reluctant,  frequently  returning  to 
the  subject  of  her  own  accord  when  it  had  been  casually  dropped, 
but  never  speaking  explicitly,  though  often  invited  so  to  do.  It 
was  not  the  cue  of  the  counsel  for  the  defence  to  drag  out  unfa 
vourable  evidence;  and  Timms  employed  certain  confidential 
agents,  whom  he  often  used  in  the  management  of  his  causes,  to 
sift  this  testimony  as  well  as  it  could  be  done  without  the  con 
straining  power  of  the  law.  The  result  was  not  very  satisfactory, 
in  any  sense,  more  appearing  to  be  suppressed  than  was  related 
It  was  feared  that  the  legal  officers  of  the  State  would  meet  with 
better  success. 

The  investigations  of  the  junior  counsel  did  not  end  here.  He 
saw  that  the  public  sentiment  was  setting  in  a  current  so  strongly 
against  Mary  Monson,  that  he  soon  determined  to  counteract  it, 
as  well  as  might  be,  by  producing  a  reaction.  This  is  a  very 
common,  not  to  say  a  very  powerful  agent,  in  the  management 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HO  JR.  151 

<»f  all  interests  that  are  subject  to  popular  opinion,  in  a  demo 
cracy.  Even  the  applicant  for  public  favour  is  none  the  worse 
for  beginning  his  advances  by  "a  little  aversion/7  provided  he 
can  contrive  to  make  the  premeditated  change  in  his  favour  take 
the  aspect  of  a  reaction.  It  may  not  be  so  easy  to  account  for 
this  caprice  of  the  common  mind,  as  it  is  certain  that  it  exists. 
Perhaps  we  like  to  yield  to  a  seeming  generosity,  have  a  plea 
sure  in  appearing  to  pardon,  find  a  consolation  for  our  own  secret 
consciousness  of  errors,  in  thus  extending  favour  to  the  errors 
of  others,  and  have  more  satisfaction  in  preferring  those  who  are 
fallible,  than  in  exalting  the  truly  upright  and  immaculate ;  if, 
indeed,  any  such  there  be.  Let  the  cause  be  what  it  may,  we 
think  the  facts  to  be  beyond  dispute;  and  so  thought  Timms 
also,  for  he  no  sooner  resolved  to  counteract  one  public  opinion 
by  means  of  another,  than  he  set  about  the  task  with  coolness 
and  intelligence  —  in  short,  with  a  mixture  of  all  the  good  and 
bad  qualities  of  the  man. 

The  first  of  his  measures  was  to  counteract,  as  much  as  he 
<jould,  the  effects  of  certain  paragraphs  that  had  appeared  in 
some  of  the  New  York  journals.  A  man  of  Timms's  native 
shrewdness  had  no  difficulty  in  comprehending  the  more  vulgar 
moral  machinery  of  a  daily  press.  Notwithstanding  its  '  we's/ 
and  its  pretension  to  represent  public  opinion,  and  to  protect  the 
common  interests,  he  thoroughly  understood  it  was  merely  one 
mode  of  advancing  the  particular  views,  sustaining  the  personal 
schemes,  and  not  unfrequently  of  gratifying  the  low  malignity  of 
a  single  individual ;  the  press  in  America  differing  from  that  of 
nearly  all  other  countries  in  the  fact  that  it  is  not  controlled  by  asso 
ciations,  and  dn^  not  reflect  the  decisions  of  many  minds,  or  con 
tend  for  principle;-,  that,  by  their  very  character,  have  a  tendency 
.to  elevate  the  thoughts.  There  are  some  immaterial  exceptions  as 
relates  to  the  latter  characteristic,  perhaps,  principally  growing 
oat  of  the  great  extra-constitutional  question  of  slavery,  that 


152  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

has  quite  unnecessarily  been  drawn  into  the  discussions  of  the 
times  through  the  excited  warmth  of  zealots ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the 
exciting  political  questions  that  elsewhere  compose  the  great 
theme  of  the  newspapers,  enlarging  their  views,  and  elevating 
their  articles,  may  be  regarded  as  settled  among  ourselves.  In 
the  particular  case  with  which  Timms  was  now  required  to 
deal,  there  was  neither  favour  nor  malice  to  counteract.  The 
injustice,  and  a  most  cruel  injustice  it  was,  was  merely  in  cater 
ing  to  a  morbid  desire  for  the  marvellous  in  the  vulgar,  which 
might  thus  be  turned  to  profit. 

Among  the  reporters  there  exists  the  same  diversity  of  quali 
ties  as  among  other  men,  beyond  a  question;  but  the  tendency 
of  the  use  of  all  power  is  to  abuse;  and  Timms  was  perfectly 
aware  that  these  men  had  far  more  pride  in  the  influence  they 
wielded,  than  conscience  in  its  exercise.  A  ten  or  a  twenty  dollar 
note,  judiciously  applied,  would  do  a  great  deal  with  this  "  Palla 
dium  of  our  Liberties/'  —  there  being  at  least  a  dozen  of  these 
important  safeguards  interested  in  the  coming  trial — our  associate 
counsel  very  well  knew;  and  Dunscomb  suspected  that  some 
such  application  of  the  great  persuader  had  been  made,  in  con 
sequence  of  one  or  two  judicious  and  well-turned  paragraphs  that 
appeared  soon  after  the  consultation.  But  Timms's  management 
of  the  press  was  mainly  directed  to  that  of  the  county  newspa 
pers.  There  were  three  of  these ;  and  as  they  had  better  cha 
racters  than  most  of  the  Manhattanese  journals,  so  were  they 
more  confided  in.  It  is  true,  that  the  whig  readers  never  heeded 
in  the  least  anything  that  was  said  in  "  The  Duke's  County  De 
mocrat;"  but  the  friends  of  the  last  took  their  revenge  in  discre 
diting  all  that  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  Biberry  Whig.  In; 
this  respect,  the  two  great  parties  of  the  country  were  on  a  par ; 
each  manifesting  a  faith  that,  in  a  better  cause,  might  suffice  to 
move  mountains ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  an  unbelief  that  drove 
them  into  the  dangerous  folly  of  disregarding  their  foes.  As 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  153 

Mary  Monson  had  nothing  to  do  with  politics,  it  was  not  difficult 
to  get  suitable  paragraphs  inserted  in  the  hostile  columns,  which 
was  also  done  within  eight-and-forty  hours  after  the  return  of  the 
junior  counsel  to  his  own  abode. 

Timms,  however,  was  far  from  trusting  to  the  newspapers 
alone.  He  felt  that  it  might  be  well  enough  to  set  '  fire  to  fight 
fire ;'  but  his  main  reliance  was  on  the  services  that  could  be  ren 
dered  by  a  timely  and  judicious  use  of  "the  little  member." 
Talkers  was  what  he  wanted ;  and  well  did  he  know  where  to 
find  them,  and  how  to  get  them  at  work.  A  few  he  paid  in  a 
direct,  business-like  way;  taking  no  vouchers  for  the  sums  be 
stowed,  the  reader  may  be  assured ;  but  entering  each  item  care 
fully  in  a  little  memorandum-book  kept  for  his  own  private  infor 
mation.  These  strictly  confidential  agents  went  to  work  with 
experienced  discretion  but  great  industry,  and  soon  had  some  ten 
or  fifteen  fluent  female  friends  actively  engaged  in  circulating 
"They  says/'  in  their  respective  neighbourhoods. 

Timms  had  reflected  a  great  deal  on  the  character  of  the 
defence  it  might  be  most  prudent  to  get  up  and  enlarge  on.  In 
sanity  had  been  worn  out  by  too  much  use  of  late ;  and  he  scarce 
gave  that  plea  a  second  thought.  This  particular  means  of  de 
fence  had  been  discussed  between  him  and  Dunscomb,  it  is  true ; 
but  each  of  the  counsel  felt  a  strong  repugnance  against  resorting 
to  it  ;  the  one  on  account  of  his  indisposition  to  rely  on  anything 
but  the  truth ;  the  other,  to  use  his  own  mode  of  expressing  him 
self  on  the  occasion  in  question,  because  he  "  believed  that  jurors 
could  no  longer  be  humbugged  with  that  plea.  There  have  been 
all  sorts  of  madmen  and  madwomen — " 

"  Gentlemen  and  lady  murderers" — put  in  Dunscomb,  drily. 

"  I  ask  your  pardon,  'Squire;  but,  since  you  give  me  the  use 
of  my  nose,  I  will  offend  as  little  as  possible  with  the  tongue  — 
though,  I  rather  conclude"  —  a  form  of  expression  much  in 
favour  with  Timms  —  "  that  should  our  verdict  be  *  guilty/  you 

7* 


154  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

will  be  disposed  to  allow  there  may  be  one  lady  criminal  in  the 
world." 

"  She  is  a  most  extraordinary  creature,  Timms ;  bothers  me 
more  than  any  client  I  ever  had  !" 

"  Indeed  !  Waal,  I  had  set  her  down  as  just  the  contrary  — 
for  to  me  she  seems  to  be  as  unconcerned  as  if  the  wise  four-and- 
twenty  had  not  presented  her  to  justice  in  the  name  of  the  peo 
ple." 

"  It  is  not  in  that  sense  that  I  am  bothered  —  no  client  ever 
gave  counsel  less  trouble  than  Mary  Monson  in  that  respect.  To 
me,  Timms,  she  does  not  appear  to  have  any  concern  in  reference 
to  the  result." 

"  Supreme  innocence,  or  a  well-practised  experience.  I  have 
defended  many  a  person  whom  I  knew  to  be  guilty,  and  two  or 
three  whom  I  believed  to  be  innocent ;  but  never  before  had  as 
cool  a  client  as  this !" 

And  very  true  was  this.  Even  the  announcement  of  the  pre 
sentment  by  the  grand  jury  appeared  to  give  Mary  Monson  no 
great  alarm.  Perhaps  she  anticipated  it  from  the  first,  and  had 
prepared  herself  for  the  event,  by  an  exercise  of  a  firmness  little 
common  to  her  sex  until  the  moments  of  extreme  trial,  when 
their  courage  would  seem  to  rise  with  the  occasion.  On  her 
companion,  whom  Timms  had  so  elegantly  styled  her  'Lady 
Friend/  certainly  as  thoroughly  vulgar  an  expression  as  was  ever 
drawn  into  the  service  of  the  heroics  in  gentility,  warm-hearted 
and  faithful  Marie  Moulin,  the  intelligence  produced  far  more 
effect.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Wilmeter  overheard  the 
single  cry  of  "  Mademoiselle"  when  this  Swiss  was  first  admitted 
to  the  gaol ;  after  which  an  impenetrable  veil  closed  around  their 
proceedings.  The  utmost  good  feeling  and  confidence  were  appa 
rent  in  the  intercourse  between  the  young  mistress  and  her  maid ; 
if,  indeed,  Marie  might  thus  be  termed,  after  the  manner  in  which 
she  was  treated.  So  far  from  being  kept  at  the  distance  which  it 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        155 

Is  usual  to  observe  towards  an  attendant,  the  Swiss  was  admitted 
to  Mary  Monson's  table ;  and  to  the  eyes  of  indifferent  observers 
she  might  very  well  pass  for  what  Timms  had  so  elegantly  called 
a  "lady  friend."  But  Jack  Wilmeter  knew  too  much  of  the 
world  to  fee  so  easily  misled.  It  is  true,  that  when  he  paid  his 
short  visits  to  the  gaol,  Marie  Moulin  sat  sewing  at  the  pri 
soner's  side,  and  occasionally  she  even  hummed  low,  national 
airs  while  he  was  present ;  but  knowing  the  original  condition 
of  the  maid-servant,  our  young  man  was  not  to  be  persuaded  that 
his  uncle's  client  was  her  peer,  any  more  than  were  the  jurors 
who,  agreeably  to  that  profound  mystification  of  the  common  law, 
are  thus  considered  and  termed.  Had  not  Jack  Wilmeter  known 
the  real  position  of  Marie  Moulin,  her  "Mademoiselle"  would 
have  let  him  deeper  into  the  secrets  of  the  two  than  it  is  proba 
ble  either  ever  imagined.  This  word,  in  common  with  those  of 
•" Monsieur"  and  "Madame,"  are  used,  by  French  servants,  dif 
ferently  from  what  they  are  used  in  general  society.  Unaccom 
panied  by  the  names,  the  domestics  of  France  commonly  and 
exclusively  apply  them  to  the  heads  of  families,  or  those  they 
more  immediately  serve.  Thus,  it  was  far  more  probable  that 
Marie  Moulin,  meeting  a  mere  general  acquaintance  in  the  pri 
soner,  would  have  called  her  "  Mademoiselle  Marie,"  or  "  Made 
moiselle  Monson,"  or  whatever  might  be  the  name  by  which  she 
had  known  the  young  lady,  than  by  the  general  and  still  more 
respectful  appellation  of  "Mademoiselle."  On  this  peculiarity 
of  deportment  Jack  Wilmeter  speculated  profoundly;  for  a  young 
man  who  is  just  beginning  to  submit  to  the  passion  of  love  is 
very  apt  to  fancy  a  thousand  things  that  he  would  never  dream 
of  seeing  in  his  cooler  moments.  Still,  John  had  fancied  himself 
bound  in  the  spells  of  another,  until  this  extraordinary  client  of 
his  uncle's  so  unexpectedly  crossed  his  path.  Such  is  the  human 
heart. 

Good  and  kin<f  -hear ted  Mrs.  G-ott  allowed  the  prisoner  most 


156  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

of  the  privileges  that  at  all  comported  with  her  duty.  Increased 
precautions  were  taken  for  the  security  of  the  accused,  as  soon  as 
the  presentment  of  the  grand  jury  was  made,  by  a  direct  order 
from  the  court ;  but,  these  attended  to,  it  was  in  the  power  of  her 
whom  Timms  might  have  called  the  "  lady  sheriff,"  to  grant  a 
great  many  little  indulgences,  which  were  quite  cheerfully  ac 
corded,  and,  to  all  appearances,  as  gratefully  accepted, 

John  Wilmeter  was  permitted  to  pay  two  regular  visits  at  the 
grate  each  day,  and  as  many  more  as  his  ingenuity  could  invent 
plausible  excuses  for  making.  On  all  occasions  Mrs.  Gott  opened 
the  outer  door  with  the  greatest  good  will ;  andr  like  a  true  woman 
as  she  is,  she  had  the  tact  to  keep  as  far  aloof  from  the  barred 
window  where  the  parties  met,,  as  the  dimensions  of  the  outer  room 
would  allow.  Marie  Moulin  was  equally  considerate,  generally 
plying  her  needle  at  such  times,  in  the  depth  of  the  cell,  with 
twice  the  industry  manifested  on  other  occasions.  Nevertheless^ 
nothing  passed  between  the  young  people  that  called  for  this  de 
licate  reserve.  The  conversation,  it  is  true,  turned  as  little  as 
possible  on  the  strange  and  awkward  predicament  of  one  of  the- 
colloquists,  or  the  employment  that  kept  the  young  man  at 
Biberry.  Nor  did  it  turn  at  all  on  love.  There  is  a  premonitory 
state  in  these  attacks  of  the  heart,  during  which  skilful  observers 
may  discover  the  symptoms  of  approaching  disease,  but  which  do 
not  yet  betray  the  actual  existence  of  the  epidemic.  On  the  part 
of  Jack  himself,  it  is  true  that  these  symptoms  were  getting  to 
be  not  only  somewhat  apparent,  but  they  were  evidently  fast 
becoming  more  and  more  distinct;  while,  on  the  part  of  the 
lady,  any  one  disposed  to  be  critical  might  have  seen  that  her 
colour  deepened,  and  there  were  signs  of  daily  increasing  interest 
in  them,  as  the  hours  for  these  interviews  approached.  She  was 
interested  in  her  young  legal  adviser;  and  interest,  with  women, 
is  the  usual  precursor  of  the  master-passion.  Wo  betide  the 
man  who  cant  ot  interest,  but  who  only  amuses  I 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  157 

Although  so  little  to  the  point  was  said  in  the  short  dialogues 
between  Wilmeter  and  Mary  Monson,  there  were  dialogues  held 
with  the  good  Mrs.  Gott,  by  each  of  the  parties  respectively,  in 
which  less  reserve  was  observed ;  and  the  heart  was  permitted  to 
have  more  influence  over  the  movements  of  the  tongue.  The 
first  of  these  conversations  that  we  deem  it  necessary  to  relate, 
that  took  place  after  the  presentment,  was  one  that  immediately 
succeeded  an  interview  at  the  barred  window,  and  which  occurred 
three  days  subsequently  to  the  consultation  in  town,  and  two 
after  Timms's  machinery  was  actively  at  work  in  the  county. 

"  Well,  how  do  you  find  her  spirits  to-day,  Mr.  Wilmington  ?" 
asked  Mrs.  G-ott,  kindly,  and  catching  the  conventional  sound  of 
the  young  man's  name,  from  having  heard  it  so  often  in  the 
mouth  of  Michael  Millington.  "It  is  an  awful  state  for  any 
human  being  to  be  in,  and  she  a  young,  delicate  woman  j  to  be 
tried  for  murder,  and  for  setting  fire  to  a  house,  and  all  so 
soon  !" 

"  The  most  extraordinary  part  of  this  very  extraordinary  busi 
ness,  Mrs.  Gott,"  Jack  replied,  "is  the  perfect  indifference  of 
Miss  Monson  to  her  fearful  jeopardy !  To  me,  she  seems  much 
more  anxious  to  be  closely  immured  in  gaol,  than  to  escape  from 
a  trial  that  one  would  think,  of  itself,  might  prove  more  than  so 
delicate  a  young  lady  could  bear  up  against." 

"  Very  true,  Mr.  Wilmington ;  and  she  never  seems  to  think 
of  it  at  all !  You  see  what  she  has  done,  sir  ?" 

"  Done  ! — Nothing  in  particular,  I  hope  1" 

"I  don't  know  what  you  call  particular;  but  to  me  it  does 
seem  to  be  remarkably  particular.  Didn't  you  hear  a  piano,  and 
another  musical  instrument,  as  you  approached  the  gaol?" 

"  I  did,  certainly,  and  wondered  who  could  produce  such  admi 
rable  music  in  Biberry." 

"  Biberry  has  a  great  many  musical  ladies,  I  can  tell  yon,  Mr. 
Wilmington,"  returned  Mrs.  Gott,  a  little  coldly,  though  her 


158  THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

good-nature  instantly  returned,  and  shone  out  in  one  of  her  most 
friendly  smiles ;  "  and  those,  too,  that  have  been  to  town,  and 
heard  all  the  great  performers  from  Europe,  of  whom  there  have 
been  so  many  of  late  years.  I  have  heard  good  judges  say  that 
Duke's  county  is  not  much  behind  the  Island  of  Manhattan  with 
the  piano  in  particular/' 

"  I  remember,  when  at  Rome,  to  have  heard  an  Englishman 
say  that  some  young  ladies  from  Lincolnshire  were  astonishing 
the  Romans  with  their  Italian  accent,  in  singing  Italian  operas," 
answered  Jack,  smiling.  "  There  is  no  end,  my  dear  Mrs.  Gott, 
to  provincial  perfection  in  all  parts  of  the  world/' 

"  I  believe  I  understand  you,  but  I  am  not  at  all  offended  at 
your  meaning.  We  are  not  very  sensitive  about  the  gaols.  One 
thing  I  will  admit,  however ;  Mary  Monson 's  harp  is  the  first,  I 
rather  think,  that  was  ever  heard  in  Biberry.  Gott  tells  me" — 
this  was  the  familiar  manner  in  which  the  good  woman  spoke  of 
the  high  sheriff  of  Duke's,  as  the  journals  affectedly  call  that 
functionary  —  "that  he  once  met  some  German  girls  strolling 
about  the  county,  playing  and  singing  for  money,  and  who  had 
just  such  an  instrument,  but  not  one-half  as  elegant;  and  it  has 
brought  to  my  mind  a  suspicion  that  Mary  Monson  may  be  one 
of  these  travelling  musicians." 

"  What  ?  to  stroll  about  the  country,  and  play  and  sing  in  the 
streets  of  villages!" 

"No,  not  that;  I  see  well  enough  she  cannot  be  of  that  sort. 
But,  there  are  all  descriptions  of  musicians,  as  well  as  all  de 
scriptions  of  doctors  and  lawyers,  Mr.  Wilmington.  Why  may 
not  Mary  Monson  be  one  of  these  foreigners  who  get  so  rich  by 
singing  and  playing  ?  She  has  just  as  much  money  as  she  wants, 
and  spends  it  freely  too.  This  I  know,  from  seeing  the  manner 
in  which  she  uses  it.  For  my  part,  I  wish  she  had  less  music 
and  less  money  just  now ;  for  they  are  doing  her  no  great  good 
in  Biberry  1" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  159 

"  Why  not  ?  Can  any  human  being  find  fault  with  melody 
and  a  liberal  spirit  V 

"  Folks  will  find  fault  with  anything,  Mr.  Wilmington,  when 
they  have  nothing  better  to  do.  You  know  how  it  is  with  our 
villagers  here,  as  well  as  I  do.  Most  people  think  Mary  Monson 
guilty,  and  a  few  do  not.  Those  that  think  her  guilty  say  it  is 
insolent  in  her  to  be  singing  and  playing  in  the  very  gaol  in 
which  she  is  confined ;  and  talk  loud  against  her  for  that  very 
reason/' 

"  Would  they  deprive  her  of  a  consolation  as  innocent  as  that 
she  obtains  from  her  harp  and  her  piano,  in  addition  to  her  other 
sufferings !  Your  Biberry  folk  must  be  particularly  hard-hearted, 
Mrs.  Gott." 

"  Biberry  people  are  like  York  people,  and  American  people, 
and  English  people,  and  all  other  people,  I  fancy,  if  the  truth 
was  known,  Mr.  Wilmington.  What  they  don't  like  they  disap 
prove  of,  that 's  all.  Now,  was  I  one  of  them  that  believe  Mary 
Monson  did  actually  murder  the  Goodwins,  and  plunder  their 
drawers,  and  set  fire  to  their  house,  it  would  go  ag'in  my  feelings 
too,  to  hear  her  music,  well  as  she  plays,  and  sweet  as  she  draws 
out  the  sounds  from  those  wires.  Some  of  our  folks  take  the 
introduction  of  the  harp  into  the  gaol  particularly  hard  I" 

"  Why  that  instrument  more  than  another  ?  It  was  the  one 
on  which  David  played." 

"They  say  it  was  David's  favourite,  and  ought  only  to  be 
struck  to  religious  words  and  sounds." 

"  It  is  a  little  surprising  that  your  excessively  conscientious 
people  so  often  forget  that  charity  is  the  chiefest  of  all  the  Chris 
tian  graces." 

"  They  think  that  the  love  of  G-od  comes  first,  and  that  they 
ought  never  to  lose  sight  of  his  honour  and  glory.  But  I  agree 
with  you,  Mr.  Wilmington ;  '  feel  for  your  fellow-creatures'  13 
my  rule ;  and  I  'm  certain  I  am  then  feeling  for  my  Maker. 


160  THE    WAYS   OF    THE   HOUR. 

Yes ;  many  of  the  neighbours  insist  that  a  harp  is  unsuited  to  a 
gaol,  and  they  tell  me  that  the  instrument  on  which  Mary  Monson 
plays  is  a  real  antique." 

"  Antique  !     What,  a  harp  made  in  remote  ages  ?" 

"No,  I  don't  mean  that  exactly,"  returned  Mrs.  Grott,  colour 
ing  a  little ;  "  but  a  harp  made  so  much  like  those  used  by  the 
Psalmist,  that  one  could  not  tell  them  apart." 

"  I  dare  say  David  had  many  varieties  of  stringed  instruments, 
from  the  lute  up ;  but  harps  are  very  common,  Mrs.  Gott  —  so 
common  that  we  hear  them  now  in  the  streets,  and  on  board  the 
steamboats  even.  There  is  nothing  new  in  them,  even  in  this 
country." 

"  Yes,  sir,  in  the  streets  and  on  board  the  boats ;  but  the  public 
will  tolerate  things  done  for  them,  that  they  won't  tolerate  in  in 
dividuals.  I  suppose  you  know  that,  Mr.  Wilmington?" 

"  We  soon  learn  as  much  in  this  country  —  but  the  gaols  are 
made  for  the  public,  and  the  harps  ought  to  be  privileged  in  them, 
as  well  as  in  other  public  places." 

"I  don't  know  how  it  is  —  I'm  not  very  good  at  reasoning  — 
but,  somehow  or  another,  the  neighbours  don't  like  that  Mary 
Monson  should  play  on  the  harp ;  or  even  on  the  piano,  situated 
as  she  is.  I  do  wish,  Mr.  Wilmington,  you  could  give  her  a  hint 
on  the  subject?" 

"  Shall  I  tell  her  that  the  music  is  unpleasant  to  you  ?" 

"  As  far  from  that  as  possible !  I  delight  in  it ;  but  the  neigh 
bours  do  not.  Then  she  never  shows  herself  at  the  grate,  to  folks 
outside,  like  all  the  other  prisoners.  The  public  wants  to  see  and 
to  converse  with  her." 

"  You  surely  could  not  expect  a  young  and  educated  female  to 
be  making  a  spectacle  of  herself,  for  the  gratificatian  of  the  eyes 
of  all  the  vulgar  and  curious  in  and  about  Biberry !" 

"  Hush  —  Mr.  Wilmington,  you  are  most  too  young  to  take 
care  of  such  a  cause.  'Squire  Timms,  now,  is  a  man  who  under* 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  161 

gtands  Duke's  county,  and  he  would  tell  you  it  is  not  wise  to 
talk  of  the  vulgar  hereabouts ;  at  least  not  until  the  verdict  is  in. 
Besides,  most  people  would  think  that  folks  have  a  right  to  look 
at  a  prisoner  in  the  common  gaol.  I  know  they  act  as  if  they 
thought  so/' 

"  It  is  hard  enough  to  be  accused  and  confined,  without  sub 
jecting  the  party  to  any  additional  degradation.  No  man  has  a 
right  to  ask  to  look  at  Miss  Monson,  but  those  she  sees  fit  to  re 
ceive,  and  the  officials  of  the  law.  It  would  be  an  outrage  to 
tolerate  mere  idle  curiosity." 

"  Well,  if  you  think  so,  Mr.  Wilmington,  do  not  let  everybody 
know  it.  Several  of  the  clergy  have  either  been  here,  or  have 
sent  to  offer  their  visits,  if  acceptable." 

"  And  what  has  been  the  answer?"  demanded  Jack,  a  little 
eagerly. 

"  Mary  Monson  has  received  all  these  offers  as  if  she  had  been 
a  queen !  politely,  but  coldly ;  once  or  twice,  or  when  the  Me 
thodist  and  the  Baptist  came,  and  they  commonly  come  first,  I 
thought  she  seemed  hurt.  Her  colour  went  and  came  like  light 
ning.  Now,  she  was  pale  as  death — next,  as  bright  as  a  rose — 
what  a  colour  she  has  at  times,-  Mr.  Wilmington !  Duke's  is 
rather  celebrated  for  rosy  faces ;  but  it  would  be  hard  to  find  her 
equal  when  she  is  not  thinking.'' 

"Of  what,  my  good  Mrs.  Gott?" 

"  Why,  most  of  the  neighbours  say,  of  the  Goodwins.  For 
my  part,  as  I  do  not  believe  she  ever  hurt  a  hair  of  the  head  of 
the  old  man  and  old  woman,  I  can  imagine  that  she  has  disa 
greeable  things  to  think  of  that  are  in  nowise  connected  with 
them." 

"  She  certainly  has  disagreeable  things  to  make  her  cheeks 
pale  that  are  connected  with  that  unfortunate  couple.  But,  I 
ought  to  know  all :  To  what  else  do  the  neighbours  object?" 

"  To  the  foreign  tongues  —  they  think  when  a  grand  jury  has 


162  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

found  a  bill,  the  accused  ought  to  talk  nothing  but  plain  English, 
so  that  all  near  her  can  understand  what  she  says." 

"  In  a  word,  it  is  not  thought  sufficient  to  be  accused  of  such 
a  crime  as  murder,  but  all  other  visitations  must  follow,  to  render 
the  charge  as  horrible  as  may  be  \" 

"  That  is  not  the  way  they  look  at  it.  The  public  fancies  that 
in  a  public  matter  they  have  a  right  to  know  all  about  a  thing. " 

"  And  when  there  is  a  failure  in  the  proof,  they  imagine,  in 
vent,  and  assert." 

"  'Tis  the  ways  of  the  land.  I  suppose  all  nations  have  their 
ways,  and  follow  them." 

"  One  thing  surprises  me  a  little  in  this  matter,"  Jack  rejoined, 
&fter  musing  a  moment ;  "  it  is  this.  In  most  cases  in  which 
women  have  any  connection  with  the  law,  the  leaning  in  this 
country,  and  more  particularly  of  late,  has  been  in  their  favour." 

"Well,"  Mrs.  Gott  quietly  but  quickly  interrupted,  "and 
ought  it  not  to  be  so?" 

"  It  ought  not,  unless  the  merits  are  with  them.  Justice  is 
intended  to  do  that  which  is  equitable ;  and  it  is  not  fair  to  assume 
that  women  are  always  right,  and  men  always  wrong.  I  know 
my  uncle  thinks  that  not  only  the  decisions  of  late  years,  but 
the  laws,  have  lost  sight  of  the  wisdom  of  the  past,  and  are  gra 
dually  placing  the  women  above  the  men,  making  her  instead  of 
him  the  head  of  the  family." 

"Well,  Mr.  Wilmington,  and  isn't  that  quite  right?"  de 
manded  Mrs.  Gott,  with  a  good-natured  nod. 

"  My  uncle  thinks  it  very  wrong,  and  that  by  a  mistaken  gal 
lantry  the  peace  of  families  is  undermined,  and  their  discipline 
destroyed ;  as,  in  punishment,  by  a  false  philanthropy,  rogues  are 
petted  at  the  expense  of  honest  folk.  Such  are  the  opinions  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Dunscomb,  at  least." 

u  Ay,  Mr.  Thomas  Dunscomb  is  an  old  bachelor ;  and  bachelors' 
wives,  and  bachelors'  children,  as  we  well  know,  are  always  ad- 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  163 

mirably  managed.  It  is  a  pity  they  are  not  more  numerous/ ' 
retorted  the  indomitably  good-humoured  wife  of  the  sheriff. 
"  But,  you  see  that,  in  this  case  of  Mary  Monson,  the  feeling  is 
against,  rather  than  in  favour  of  a  woman.  That  may  be  owing 
to  the  fact  that  one  of  the  persons  murdered  was  a  lady  also." 

"  Dr.  McBrain  says  that  both  were  females — or  lady-murdered 
— as  I  suppose  we  must  call  them ;  as  doubtless  you  have  heard, 
'  Mrs.  G-ott.  Perhaps  he  is  believed,  and  the  fact  may  make  doubly 
against  the  accused." 

"  He  is  not  believed.  Everybody  hereabouts  knows,  that  one 
of  the  skeletons  was  that  of  Peter  Goodwin.  They  say  that  the 
District  Attorney  means  to  show  that,  beyond  all  dispute.  They 
tell  me  that  it  is  a  law,  in  a  case  of  this  sort,  first  to  show  there 
has  been  a  murder  j  second,  to  show  who  did  it." 

"  This  is  something  like  the  course  of  proceeding,  I  believe ; 
though  I  never  sat  on  a  trial  for  this  offence.  It  is  of  no  great 
moment  what  the  district  attorney  does,  so  that  he  do  not  prove 
that  Miss  Monson  is  guilty ;  and  this,  my  kind-hearted  Mrs.  Gott, 
you  and  I  do  not  believe  he  can  do." 

"  In  that  we  are  agreed,  sir.  I  no  more  think  that  Mary  Mon 
son  did  these  things,  than  I  think  I  did  them  myself." 

Jack  expressed  his  thanks  in  a  most  grateful  look,  and  there 
the  interview  terminated 


CHAPTER  X. 

**  In  peace,  Love  tunes  the  shepherd's  reed  • 
In  war  he  mounts  the  warrior's  steed; 
In  halls,  in  gay  attire  is  seen ; 
In  hamlets,  dances  on  the  green. 
Love  rules  the  court,  the  camp,  the  grove, 
And  men  below,  and  saints  abdve; 
For  love  is  heaven,  and  heaven  is  love." 

Scott. 

"  IT  is  the  ways  of  the  land/'  said  good  Mrs.  Gott,  in  one  of 
her  remarks  in  the  conversation  just  related.  Other  usages  pre 
vail,  in  connection  with  other  interests ;  and  the  time  is  come 
when  we  must  refer  to  one  of  them.  In  a  word,  Dr.  McBrain 
and  Mrs.  Updyke  were  about  to  be  united  in  the  bands  of  matri 
mony.  As  yet  we  have  said  very  little  of  the  intended  bride ; 
but  the  incidents  of  our  tale  render  it  now  necessary  to  bring  her 
more  prominently  on  the  stage,  and  to  give  some  account  of  her 
self  and  family. 

Anne  Wade  was  the  only  child  of  very  respectable  and  some 
what  affluent  parents.  At  nineteen  she  married  a  lawyer  of  suit 
able  years,  and  became  Mrs.  Updyke.  This  union  lasted  but 
eight  years,  when  the  wife  was  left  a  widow  with  two  children ; 
a  son  and  a  daughter.  In  the  course  of  time  these  children  grew 
up,  the  mother  devoting  herself  to  their  care,  education  and  well- 
being.  In  all  this  there  was  nothing  remarkable,  widowed  mo 
thers  doing  as  much  daily,  with  a  self-devotion  that  allies  them 
to  the  angels.  Frank  Updyke,  the  son,  had  finished  his  educa- 

164) 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  165 

tion,  and  was  daily  expected  to  arrive  from  a  tour  of  three  years 
in  Europe:  Anne,  her  mother's  namesake,  was  at  the  sweet  age 
of  nineteen,  and  the  very  counterpart  of  what  the  elder  Anne 
had  been  at  the  same  period  in  life.  The  intended  bride  was  far 
from  being  unattractive,  though  fully  five-and-forty.  In  the  eyes 
of  Dr.  McBrain,  she  was  even  charming ;  although  she  did  not 
exactly  answer  those  celebrated  conditions  of  female  influence 
that  have  been  handed  down  to  us  in  the  familiar  toast  of  a 
voluptuous  English  prince.  Though  forty,  Mrs.  Updyke  was 
neither  'fat'  nor  ' fair/  being  a  brunette  of  a  well-preserved  and 
still  agreeable  person. 

It  was  perhaps  a  little  singular,  after  having  escaped  the 
temptations  of  a  widowhood  of  twenty  years,  that  this  lady  should 
think  of  marrying  at  a  time  of  life  when  most  females  abandon 
the  expectation  of  changing  their  condition.  But  Mrs.  Updyke 
was  a  person  of  a  very  warm  heart ;  and  she  foresaw  the  day 
when  she  was  to  be  left  alone  in  the  world.  Her  son  was  much 
inclined  to  be  a  rover ;  and,  in  his  letters,  he  talked  of  still  longer 
journeys,  and  of  more  protracted  absences  from  home.  He  in 
herited  an  independency  from  his  father,  and  had  now  been  his 
own  master  for  several  years.  Anna  was  much  courted  by  the 
circle  to  which  she  belonged ;  and  young,  affluent,  pretty  to  the 
very  verge  of  beauty,  gentle,  quiet,  and  singularly  warm-hearted, 
it  was  scarcely  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that  she  could 
escape  an  early  marriage  in  a  state  of  society  like  that  of  Man- 
Vattan.  These  were  the  reasons  Mrs.  Updyke  gave  to  her  female 
confidants,  when  she  deemed  it  well  to  explain  the  motives  of  her 
present  purpose.  Without  intending  to  deceive,  there  was  not  a 
word  of  truth  in  these  explanations.  In  point  of  fact,  Mrs.  Up 
dyke,  well  as  she  had  loved  the  husband  of  her  youth,  preserved 
Us  beaux  restes  of  a  very  warm  and  affectionate  heart;  and 
McBrain,  a  well-preserved,  good-looking  man,  about  a  dozen  yeara 
older  than  herself,  had  found  the  means  to  awaken  its  sympathies 


166  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

to  such  a  degree,  as  once  more  to  place  the  comely  widow  com 
pletely  within  the  category  of  Cupid.  It  is  very  possible  for  a 
woman  of  forty  to  love,  and  to  love  with  all  her  heart ;  though 
the  world  seldom  takes  as  much  interest  in  her  weaknesses,  if 
weakness  it  is,  than  in  those  of  younger  and  fairer  subjects  of  the 
passion.  To  own  the  truth,  Mrs.  Updyke  was  profoundly  in  love, 
while  her  betrothed  met  her  inclination  with  an  answering  sym 
pathy  that,  to  say  the  least,  was  fully  equal  to  any  tender  senti 
ment  he  had  succeeded  in  awakening. 

All  this  was  to  Tom Dunscomb  what  he  called  "nuts."  Three 
times  had  he  seen  his  .old  friend  in  this  pleasant  state  of  feeling, 
arid  three  times  was  he  chosen  to  be  an  attendant  at  the  altar ; 
once  in  the  recognised  character  of  a  groomsman,  and  on  the 
other  two  occasions  in  that  of  a  chosen  friend.  Whether  the 
lawyer  had  himself  completely  escaped  the  darts  of  the  little 
god,  no  one  could  say,  so  completely  had  he  succeeded  in  veiling 
this  portion  of  his  life  from  observation ;  but,  whether  he  had  or 
not,  he  made  those  who  did  submit  to  the  passion  the  theme  of 
his  untiring  merriment. 

Children  usually  regard  these  tardy  inclinations  of  their  parents 
with  surprise,  if  not  with  downright  distaste.  Some  little  sur 
prise  the  pretty  Anna  Updyke  may  have  felt,  when  she  was  told 
by  a  venerable  great-aunt  that  her  mother  was  about  to  be  mar 
ried  ;  but  of  distaste  there  was  none.  She  had  a  strong  regard 
for  her  new  step-father,  that  was  to  be ;  and  thought  it  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world  to  love.  Sooth  to  say,  Anna  Updyke 
had  not  been  out  two  years — the  American  girls  are  brought  out 
so  young !  —  without  having  sundry  suitors.  Manhattan  is  the 
easiest  place  in  the  world  for  a  pretty  girl,  with  a  good  fortune, 
to  get  offers.  Pretty  girls  with  good  fortunes  are  usually  in 
request  everywhere ;  but  it  requires  the  precise  state  of  society 
that  exigfc  MI  the  "Great  Commercial  Emporium,"  to  give  a 
young  woman  the  highest  chance  in  the  old  lottery.  There, 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  167 

where  one-half  of  the  world  came  from  other  worlds  some  half  a 
dozen  years  since ;  where  a  good  old  Manhattan  name  is  regarded 
as  upstart  among  a  crowd  that  scarcely  knows  whence  it  was  itself 
derived,  and  whither  it  is  destined,  and  where  few  have  any  real 
position  in  society,  and  fewer  still  know  what  the  true  meaning 
of  the  term  is,  money  and  beauty  are  the  constant  objects  of 
pursuit.  Anna  Updyke  formed  no  exception.  She  had  declined, 
in  the  gentlest  manner  possible,  no  less  than  six  direct  offers, 
coming  from  those  who  were  determined  to  lose  nothing  by  diffi 
dence  ;  had  thrown  cold  water  on  more  than  twice  that  number 
of  little  flames  that  were  just  beginning  to  burn ;  and  had  thrown 
into  the  fire  some  fifteen  or  sixteen  anonymous  effusions,  in  prose 
and  verse,  that  came  from  adventurers  who  could  admire  from  a 
distance,  at  the  opera  and  in  the  streets,  but  who  had  no  present 
means  of  getting  any  nearer  than  these  indirect  attempts  at  com 
munication.  We  say  "  thrown  into  the  fire •/'  for  Anna  was  too 
prudent,  and  had  too  much  self-respect,  to  retain  such  documents, 
coming,  as  they  did,  from  so  many  "Little  Unknowns."  The 
anonymous  effusions  were  consequently  burnt  —  with  one  excep 
tion.  The  exception  was  in  the  case  of  a  sonnet,  in  which  her 
hair  —  and  very  beautiful  it  is  —  was  the  theme.  From  some  of 
the  little  free-masonry  of  the  intercourse  of  the  sexes,  Anna 
fancied  these  lines  had  been  written  by  Jack  Wilmeter,  one  of 
the  most  constant  of  her  visiters,  as  well  as  one  of  her  admitted 
favourites.  Between  Jack  and  Anna  there  had  been  divers 
passages  of  gallantry,  which  had  been  very  kindly  viewed  by 
McBrain  and  the  mother.  The  parties  themselves  did  not  under 
stand  their  own  feelings;  for  matters  had  not  gone  far,  when 
Mary  Monson  so  strangely  appeared  on  the  stage,  and  drew  Jack 
off,  on  the  trail  of  wonder  and  mystery,  if  not  on  that  of  real 
passion.  As  Sarah  Wilmeter  was  the  most  intimate  friend  of 
Anna  Updyke,  it  is  not  extraordinary  that  this  singular  fancy  of 
the  brother's  should  be  the  subject  of  conversation  between  the 


16S  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

two  young  women,  each  of  whom  probably  felt  more  interest  in 
his  movements  than  any  other  persons  on  earth.  The  dialogue 
we  arc  about  to  relate  took  place  in  Anna's  own  room,  the  morn 
ing  of  the  day  which  preceded  that  of  the  wedding,  and  followed 
naturally  enough,  as  the  sequence  of  certain  remarks  which  had 
been  made  on  the  approaching  event. 

"  If  my  mother  were  living,  and  must  be  married,"  said  Sarah 
Wilmeter,  "  I  should  be  very  well  content  to  have  such  a  man  as 
Dr.  McBrain  for  a  step-father.  I  have  known  him  all  my  life, 
and  he  is,  and  ever  has  been,  so  intimate  with  uncle  Tom,  that  I 
almost  think  him  a  near  relation." 

"And  I  have  known  him  as  long  as  I  can  remember/'  Anna 
steadily  rejoined,  "  and  have  not  only  a  great  respect,  but  a  warm 
regard  for  him.  Should  I  ever  marry  myself,  I  do  not  believe  I 
shall  have  one-half  the  attachment  for  my  father-in-law  as  I  am 
sure  I  shall  feel  for  my  step-father." 

"  How  do  you  know  there  will  be  any  father-in-law  in  the 
case?  I  am  sure  John  has  no  parent." 

"  John  !"  returned  Anna,  faintly  —  "  What  is  John  to  me  ?" 

"  Thank  you,  my  dear  —  he  is  something,  at  least,  to  me." 

"  To  be  sure — a  brother  naturally  is — but  Jack  is  no  brothei 
of  mine,  you  will  please  to  remember." 

Sarah  cast  a  quick,  inquiring  look  at  her  friend ;  but  the  eyes 
of  Anna  were  thrown  downward  on  the  carpet,  while  the  bloom 
on  her  cheek  spread  to  her  temples.  Her  friend  saw  that,  in 
truth,  Jack  was  no  brother  of  hers. 

"  What  I  mean  is  this" — continued  Sarah,  following  a  thread 
that  ran  through  her  own  mind,  rather  than  anything  that  had 
been  already  expressed  —  "  Jack  is  making  himself  a  very  silly 
fellow  just  now." 

Anna  now  raised  her  eyes ;  her  lip  quivered  a  little,  and  the 
bloom  deserted  even  her  cheek.  Still,  she  made  no  reply.  Wo 
men  can  listen  acutely  at  such  moments ;  but  it  commonly  exceeds 


THE    WAYS    OF    THU    HOUR.  UK) 

their  powers  to  speak.  JThe  friends  understood  each  other,  as 
Sarah  well  knew,  and  she  continued  her  remarks  precisely  as  if 
the  other  had  answered  them. 

"  Michael  Millington  brings  strange  accounts  of  Jack's  beha 
viour  at  Biberry !  He  says  that  he  seems  to  do  nothing,  think 
of  nothing,  talk  of  nothing,  but  of  the  hardship  of  this  Mary 
Monson's  case." 

'  "  I  'm  sure  it  is  cruel  enough  to  awaken  the  pity  of  a  rock," 
said  Anna  Updyke,  in  a  low  tone ;  "  a  woman,  and  she  a  lady, 
accused  of  such  terrible  crimes  —  murder  and  arson !" 

"What  is  arson,  child?  —  and  how  do  you  know  anything 
about  it?" 

Again  Anna  coloured,  her  feelings  being  all  sensitiveness  on 
this  subject;  which  had  caused  her  far  more  pain  than  she  had 
experienced  from  any  other  event  in  her  brief  life.  It  was,  how 
ever,  necessary  to  answer. 

"Arson  is  setting  fire  to  an  inhabited  house,"  she  said,  after  & 
moment's  reflection  j  "  and  I  know  it  from  having  been  told  its 
signification  by  Mr.  Dtinscomb." 

"  Did  uncle  Tom  say  anything  of  this  Mary  Monson,  and  ol 
Jack's  singular  behaviour?" 

li  He  spoke  of  his  client  as  a  very  extraordinary  person,  ani 
of  her  accomplishments,  and  readiness,  and  beauty.  Altogether 
he  does  not  seem  to  know  what  to  make  of  her." 

"  And  what  did  he  say  about  Jack  ?  —  You  need  have  no  re 
serve  with  me,  Anna;  I  am  his  sister." 

"I  know  that  very  well,  dear  Sarah  —  but  Jack's  name  was 
not  mentioned,  I  believe  —  certainly  not  at  the  particular  time, 
and  in  the  conversation  to  which  I  now  refer." 

"  But  at  some  oilier  time,  my  dear,  and  in  some  other  conver 
sation." 

"  He  did  once  say  something  about  your  brother's  being  very 
attentive  to  the  interests  of  the  person  he  calls  his  Duke's  county 

8 


170  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

client  —  nothing  more,  I  do  assure  you.  It  is  the  duty  of  young 
lawyers  to  be  very  attentive  to  the  interests  of  their  clients,  I 
should  think." 

"  Assuredly  —  and  that  most  especially  when  the  client  is  a 
young  lady  with  a  pocket  full  of  money.  But  Jack  is  above 
want,  and  can  afford  to  act  right  at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions 
I  wish  he  had  never  seen  this  strange  creature." 

Anna  Updyke  sat  silent  for  some  little  time,  playing  with  the 
hem  of  her  pocket-handkerchief.  Then  she  said  timidly,  speak 
ing  as  if  she  wished  an  answer,  even  while  she  dreaded  it — 

"  Does  not  Marie  Moulin  know  something  about  her?" 

"  A  great  deal,  if  she  would  only  tell  it.  But  Marie,  too,  has 
gone  over  to  the  enemy,  since  she  has  seen  this  siren.  Not  a 
word  can  I  get  out  of  her,  though  I  have  written  three  letters, 
beyond  the  fact  that  she  knows  Mademoiselle,  and  that  she  can 
not  believe  her  guilty." 

"  The  last,  surely,  is  very  important.  If  really  innocent,  how 
hard  has  been  the  treatment  she  has  received  !  It  is  not  sur 
prising  that  your  brother  feels  so  deep  an  interest  in  her.  He  is 
very  warm-hearted  and  generous,  Sarah ;  and  it  is  just  like  him 
to  devote  his  time  and  talents  to  the  service  of  the  oppressed." 

It  was  Sarah's  turn  to  be  silent  and  thoughtful.  She  made  no 
answer,  for  she  well  understood  that  an  impulse  very  different 
from  that  mentioned  by  her  friend  was,  just  then,  influencing  her 
brother's  conduct. 

We  have  related  this  conversation  as  the  briefest  mode  of 
making  the  reader  acquainted  with  the  true  state  of  things  in 
and  about  the  neat  dwelling  of  Mrs.  Updyke  in  Eighth-street. 
Much,  however,  remains  to  be  told ;  as  the  morning  of  the  very 
day  which  succeeded  that  on  which  the  foregoing  dialogue  was 
held,  was  the  one  named  for  the  wedding  of  the  mistress  of  the 
house. 

At  the  very  early  hour  of  six,  the  party  met  at  the  church 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  171 

door,  one  of  the  most  gothic  structures  in  the  new  quarter  of  the 
town;  and  five  minutes  sufficed  to  make  the  two  one.  Anna 
sobbed  as  she  saw  her  mother  passing  away  from  her,  as  it  then 
appeared  to  her;  and  the  bride  herself  was  a  little  overcome. 
As  for  McBrain,  as  his  friend  Dunscomb  expressed  it,  in  a  de 
scription  given  to  a  brother  bachelor,  who  met  him  at  dinner — 

"  He  stood  fire  like  a  veteran  !  You  're  not  going  to  frighten 
a  fellow  who  has  held  forth  the  ring  three  times.  You  will  re 
member  that  Ned  has  previously  killed  two  wives,  besides  all  the 
other  folk  he  has  slain ;  and  I  make  no  doubt  the  fellow's  confi 
dence  was  a  good  deal  increased  by  the  knowledge  he  possesses 
that  none  of  us  are  immortal — as  husbands  and  wives,  at  least/' 

But  Tom  Dunscomb 's  pleasantries  had  no  influence  on  his 
friend's  happiness.  Odd  as  it  may  appear  to  some,  this  connec 
tion  was  one  of  a  warm  and  very  sincere  attachment.  Neither 
of  the  parties  had  reached  the  period  of  life  when  nature  begins 
to  yield  to  the  pressure  of  time ;  and  there  was  the  reasonable 
prospect  before  them  of  their  contributing  largely  to  each  other's 
future  happiness.  The  bride  was  dressed  with  great  simplicity, 
but  with  a  proper  care ;  and  she  really  justified  the  passion  that 
McBrain  insisted,  in  his  conversations  with  Dunscomb,  that  he 
felt  for  her.  Youthful,  for  her  time  of  life,  modest  in  demeanour 
and  aspect,  still  attractive  in  person,  the  l  Widow  Updyke'  became 
Mrs.  McBrain,  with  as  charming  an  air  of  womanly  feeling  as 
might  have  been  exhibited  by  one  of  less  than  half  her  age. 
Covered  with  blushes,  she  was  handed  by  the  bridegroom  into 
his  own  carriage,  which  stood  at  the  church-door,  and  the  two 
proceeded  to  Timbully. 

As  for  Anna  Updyke,  she  went  to  pass  a  week  in  the  country 
with  Sarah  Dunscomb;  even  a  daughter  being  a  little  de  trap, 
in  a  honey-moon.  Rattletrap  was  the  singular  name  Tom  Duns- 
comb  had  given  to  his  country-house.  It  was  a  small  villa-liko 
residence,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  within  the  island  of 


172  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

Manhattan.  Concealed  in  a  wood,  it  was  a  famous  place  for  a 
bachelor  to  hide  his  oddities  in.  Here  Dunscomb  concentrated 
all  his  out-of-the-way  purchases,  including  ploughs  that  were  never 
used,  all  sorts  of  farming  utensils  that  were  condemned  to  the 
same  idleness,  and  such  contrivances  in  the  arts  of  fishing  and 
shooting  as  struck  his  fancy ;  though  the  lawyer  never  handled  a 
rod  or  levelled  a  fowling-piece.  But  Tom  Dunscomb,  though  he 
professed  to  despise  love,  had  fancies  of  his  own.  It  gave  him  a 
certain  degree  of  pleasure  to  seem  to  have  these  several  tastes ; 
and  he  threw  away  a  good  deal  of  money  in  purchasing  these 
characteristic  ornaments  for  Rattletrap.  When  Jack  Wilmeter 
ventured,  one  day,  to  ask  his  uncle  what  pleasure  he  could  find 
in  collecting  so  many  costly  and  perfectly  useless  articles,  imple 
ments  that  had  not  the  smallest  apparent  connection  with  his 
ordinary  pursuits  and  profession,  he  got  the  following  answer : — 

"  You  are  wrong,  Jack,  in  supposing  that  these  traps  are  use 
less.  A  lawyer  has  occasion  for  a  vast  deal  of  knowledge  that 
he  will  never  get  out  of  his  books.  One  should  have  the  elements 
of  all  the  sciences,  and  of  most  of  the  arts,  in  his  mind,  to  make 
a  thoroughly  good  advocate;  for  their  application  will  become 
necessary  on  a  thousand  occasions,  when  Blackstone  and  Kent 
can  be  of  no  service.  No,  no ;  I  prize  my  professions  highly, 
and  look  upon  Rattletrap  as  my  Inn  of  Court." 

Jack  Wilmeter  had  come  over  from  Biberry  to  attend  the 
Wedding,  and  had  now  accompanied  the  party  into  the  country, 
as  it  was  called ;  though  the  place  of  Dunscomb  was  so  near 
town  that  it  was  not  difficult,  when  the  wind  was  at  the  south, 
ward,  to  hear  the  fire-bell  on  the  City  Hall.  The  meeting  be 
tween  John  Wilmeter  and  Anna  Updyke  had  been  fortunately  a 
little  relieved  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  the  latter 
was  placed.  The  feeling  she  betrayed,  the  pallor  of  her  cheek, 
and  the  nervousness  of  her  deportment,  might  all,  naturally 
enough,  be  imputed  to  the  emotions  of  a  daughter,  who  saw  hel 


THE   WAYS    OF  THE    HOUR.  ITd 

own  mother  standing  at  the  altar,  by  the  side  of  one  who  was 
not  her  natural  father.  Let  this  be  as  it  might,  Anna  had  the 
advantage  of  the  inferences  which  those  around  her  made  on 
these  facts.  The  young  people  met  first  in  the  church,  where 
there  was  no  opportunity  for  any  exchange  of  language  or  looks. 
Sarah  took  her  friend  away  with  her  alone,  on  the  road  to  Kattle- 
trap,  immediately  after  the  ceremony,  in  order  to  allow  Anna's 
spirits  and  manner  to  become  composed,  without  being  subjected 
to  unpleasant  observation.  Dunscomb  and  his  nephew  drove  out 
in  a  light  vehicle  of  the  latter's ;  and  Michael  Millington  ap 
peared  later  at  the  villa,  bringing  with  him  to  dinner,  Timms, 
who  came  on  business  connected  with  the  approaching  trial. 

There  never  had  been  any  love-making,  in  the  direct  meaning 
of  the  term,  between  John  Wilmeter  and  Anna  Updyke.  They 
had  known  each  other  so  long  and  so  intimately,  that  both  re 
garded  the  feeling  of  kindness  that  each  knew  subsisted,  as  a 
mere  fraternal  sort  of  affection.  "Jack  is  Sarah's  brother," 
thought  Anna,  when  she  permitted  herself  to  reason  on  the 
subject  at  all;  "and  it  is  natural  that  I  should  have  more  friend 
ship  for  him  than  for  any  other  young  man."  "  Anna  is  Sarah's 
most  intimate  friend/'  thought  Jack,  "  and  that  is  the  long  and 
short  of  my  attachment  for  her.  Take  away  Sarah,  and  Anna 
would  be  nothing  to  me;  though  she  is  so  pretty,  and  clever, 
and  gentle,  and  lady-like.  I  must  like  those  Anna  likes,  or  it 
might  make  us  both  unhappy."  This  was  the  reasoning  of 
nineteen,  and  when  Anna  Updyke  was  just  budding  into  young 
womanhood ;  at  a  later  day,  habit  had  got  to  be  so  much  in  the 
ascendant,  that  neither  of  the  young  people  thought  much  on  the 
subject  at  all.  The  preference  was  strong  in  each  —  so  strong, 
indeed,  as  to  hover  over  the  confines  of  passion,  and  quite  near 
to  its  vortex;  though  the  long  accustomed  feeling  prevented 
either  from  entering  into  its  analysis.  The  attachments  that 
grow  up  with  our  daily  associations,  and  get  to  be  so  interwoven 


174  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

with  our  most  familiar  thoughts,  seldom  carry  away  those  who 
submit  to  them,  in  the  whirlwind  of  passion ;  which  are  much 
more  apt  to  attend  sudden  and  impulsive  love.  Cases  do  cer 
tainly  occur  in  which  the  parties  have  long  known  each  other, 
and  have  lived  on  for  years  in  a  dull  appreciation  of  mutual 
merit  —  sometimes  with  prejudices  and  alienation  active  between 
them;  when  suddenly  all  is  changed,  and  the  scene  that  was 
lately  so  tranquil  and  tame  becomes  tumultuous  and  glowing, 
and  life  assumes  a  new  charm,  as  the  profound  emotions  of  pas 
sion  chase  away  its  dulness;  substituting  hope,  and  fears,  and 
lively  wishes,  and  soul-felt  impressions  in  its  stead.  This  is  not 
usual  in  the  course  of  the  most  wayward  of  all  our  impulses ; 
but  it  does  occasionally  happen,  brightening  existence  with  a 
glow  that  might  well  be  termed  divine,  were  the  colours  bestowed 
derived  from  a  love  of  the  Creator,  in  lieu  of  that  of  one  of  his 
creatures.  In  these  sudden  awakenings  of  dormant  feelings, 
some  chord  of  mutual  sympathy,  some  deep-rooted  affinity  is 
aroused,  carrying  away  their  possessors  in  a  torrent  of  the  feel 
ings.  Occasionally,  wherever  the  affinity  is  active,  the  impulse 
natural  and  strongly  sympathetic,  these  sudden  and  seemingly 
wayward  attachments  are  the  most  indelible,  colouring  the  whole 
of  the  remainder  of  life ;  but  oftener  do  they  take  the  character 
of  mere  impulse,  rather  than  that  of  deeper  sentiment,  and  dis 
appear,  as  they  were  first  seen,  in  some  sudden  glow  of  the 
horizon  of  the  affections. 

In  this  brief  analysis  of  some  cf  the  workings  of  the  heart, 
we  may  find  a  clue  to  the  actual  frame  of  mind  in  which  John 
Wilmeter  returned  from  Biberry,  where  he  had  now  been,  like  a 
sentinel  on  post,  for  several  weeks,  in  vigilant  watchfulness  over 
the  interests  of  Mary  Monson.  During  all  that  time,  however, 
he  had  not  once  been  admitted  within  the  legal  limits  of  the 
prison ;  holding  his  brief,  but  rather  numerous  conferences  witn 
his  client,  at  the  little  grate  in  the  massive  door  that  separated 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  175 

the  gaol  from  the  dwelling  of  the  sheriff.  Kind-hearted  Mrs. 
Oott  would  have  admitted  him  to  the  gallery,  whenever  he  chose 
to  ask  that  favour ;  but  this  act  of  courtesy  had  been  forbidden 
by  Mary  Monson  herself.  Timms  she  did  receive,  and  she  con 
ferred  with  him  in  private  on  more  than  one  occasion,  manifesting 
great  earnestness  in  the  consultations  that  preceded  the  approach 
ing  triaL  But  John  Wilmeter  she  would  receive  only  at  the 
grate,  like  a  nun  in  a  well-regulated  convent.  Even  this  coyness 
contributed  to  feed  the  fire  that  had  been  so  suddenly  lighted  in 
the  young  man's  heart,  on  which  the  strangeness  of  the  prisoner's 
situation,  her  personal  attractions,  her  manners,  and  all  the  other 
known  peculiarities  of  person,  history,  education  and  deportment, 
had  united  to  produce  a  most  lively  impression,  however  fleeting 
it  was  to  prove  in  the  end. 

Had  there  been  any  direct  communications  on  the  subject  of 
the  attachment  that  had  so  long,  so  slowly,  but  so  surely  been 
taking  root  in  the  hearts  of  John  and  Anna,  any  reciprocity  in 
open  confidence,  this  unlooked-for  impulse  in  a  new  direction 
could  not  have  overtaken  the  young  man.  He  did  not  know  how 
profound  was  the  interest  that  Anna  took-  in  him ;  nor,  for  that 
matter,  was  she  aware  of  it  herself,  until  Michael  Millington 
brought  the  unpleasant  tidings  of  the  manner  in  which  his  friend 
seemed  to  be  entranced  with  his  uncle's  client  at  Biberry.  Then, 
indeed,  Anna  was  made  to  feel  that  surest  attendant  of  the  live 
liest  love,  a  pang  of  jealousy ;  and,  for  the  first  time  in.  her  young 
and  innocent  life,  she  became  aware  of  the  real  nature  of  her 
sentiments  in  behalf  of  John  Wilmeter.  On  the  other  hand, 
drawn  aside  from  the  ordinary  course  of  his  affections  by  sudden, 
impulsive,  and  exciting  novelties,  John  was  fast  submitting  to 
the  influence  of  the  charms  of  the  fair  stranger,  as  has  been  more 
than  once  intimated  in  our  opening  pages,  as  the  newly-fallen 
enow  melts  under  the  rays  of  a  noon-day  sun. 

Such,  then,  was  the  state  of  matters  in  this  little  circle,  when 


176  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

the  wedding  took  place,  and  John  Wilmeter  joined  the  family* 
party.  Although  Dtmscomb  did  all  ne  could  to  make  the  dinner 
gay,  Rattletrap  had  seldom  entertained  a  more  silent  company 
than  that  which  sat  down  at  its  little  round  table  on  this  occasion. 
John  thought  of  Biberry  and  Mary  Monson;  Sarah's  imagina 
tion  was  quite  busy  in  wondering  why  Michael  Millington  stayed 
away  so  long ;  and  Anna  was  on  the  point  of  bursting  into  tears 
half-a-dozen  times,  under  the  depression  produced  by  the  joint 
events  of  her  mother's  marriage,  and  John  Wilmeter's  obvious 
change  of  deportment  towards  her. 

"  "What  the  deuce  has  kept  Michael  Millington  and  that  fellow 
Timms,  from  joining  us  at  dinner,"  said  the  master  of  the  house, 
as  the  fruit  was  placed  upon  the  table ;  and,  closing  one  eye,  he 
looked  with  the  other  through  the  ruby  rays  of  a  glass  of  well- 
cooled  Madeira  —  his  favourite  wine.  "Both  promised  to  be 
punctual ;  yet  here  are  they  both  sadly  out  of  time.  They  knew 
the  dinner  was  to  come  off  at  four/' 

"  As  is  one,  sir,  so  are  both,"  answered  John.  "  You  will 
remember  they  were  to  come  together?" 

"True  —  and  Millington  is  rather  a  punctual  man — especially 
in  visiting  at  Rattletrap" — here  Sarah  blushed  a  little;  but  the 
engagement  in  her  case  being  announced,  there  was  no  occasion 
for  any  particular  confusion.  "  We  shall  have  to  take  Michael  with 
us  into  Duke's  next  week,  Miss  Wilmeter;  the  case  being  too 
grave  to  neglect  bringing  up  all  our  forces." 

"Is  Jack,  too,  to  take  a  part  in  the  trial,  uncle  Tom?"  de 
manded  the  niece,  with  a  little  interest  in  the  answer. 

"  Jack,  too  —  everybody,  in  short.  When  the  life  of  a  fine 
young  woman  is  concerned,  it  behooves  her  counsel  to  be  active 
and  diligent.  I  have  never  before  had  a  cause  into  which  my 
feelings  have  so  completely  entered  —  no,  never." 

"  Do  not  counsel  always  enter,  heart  and  hand,  into  their  clients' 
interests,  and  make  themselves,  as  it  might  be,  as  you  gentlemen 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  177 

of  the  bar  sometimes  term  these  things,  a  '  part  and  parcel*  of 
their  concerns  ?" 

This  question  was  put  by  Sarah,  but  it  caused  Anna  to  raise 
her  eyes  from  the  fruit  she  was  pretending  to  eat,  and  to  listen 
intently  to  the  reply.  Perhaps  she  fancied  that  the  answer  might 
explain  the  absorbed  manner  in  which  John  had  engaged  in  the 
service  of  the  accused. 

"  As  far  from  it  as  possible,  in  many  cases/'  returned  the  uncle ; 
"  though  there  certainly  are  others  in  which  one  engages  with  all 
his  feelings.  But  every  day  lessens  my  interest  in  the  law,  and 
all  that  belongs  to  it." 

"  Why  should  that  be  so,  sir  ? — I  have  heard  you  called  a  de 
votee  of  the  profession." 

"  That 's  because  I  have  no  wife.  Let  a  man  live  a  bachelor, 
and  ten  to  one  he  gets  some  nickname  or  other.  On  the  other 
hand,  let  him  marry  two  or  three  times,  like  Ned  McBrain — beg 
your  pardon,  Nanny,  for  speaking  disrespectfully  of  your  papa — 
but  let  a  fellow  just  get  his  third  wife,  and  they  tack  '  family*  to 
his  appellation  at  once.  He  's  an  excellent  family  lawyer,  or  a 
capital  family  physician,  or  a  supremely  pious — no,  I  don't  know 
that  they  've  got  so  far  as  the  parsons,  for  they  are  all  family 
fellows." 

"You  have  a  spite  against  matrimony,  uncle  Tom." 

"  Well,  if  I  have,  it  stops  with  me,  as  a  family  complaint. 
You  are  free  from  it,  my  dear;  and  I'm  half  inclined  to  think 
Jack  will  marry  before  he  is  a  year  older.  But,  here  are  the 
tardies  at  last." 

Although  the  uncle  made  no  allusion  to  the  person  his  nephew 
was  to  marry,  everybody  but  himself  thought  of  Mary  Monson 
at  once.  Anna  turned  pale  as  death ;  Sarah  looked  thoughtful, 
and  even  sad ;  and  John  became  as  red  as  scarlet.  But  the  en 
trance  of  Michael  Millington  and  Timms  caused  the  conversation 
to  turn  on  another  subject,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

8* 


178  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"We  expected  you  to  dinner,  gentlemen/'  Dunscomb  drity 
remarked,  as  he  pushed  the  bottle  to  his  guests. 

"Business  before  eating  is  my  maxim,  'Squire  Dunscomb/' 
Timms  replied.  "  Mr.  Millington  and  I  have  been  very  busy  in 
the  office,  from  the  moment  Dr.  McBrain  and  his  lady " 

"  Wife — say  <  wife/  Timms,  if  you  please.  Or,  '  Mrs.  McBrain/ 
if  you  like  that  better." 

"  Well,  sir,  I  used  the  word  I  did,  out  of  compliment  to  the 
other  ladies  present.  They  love  to  be  honoured  and  signalized 
in  our  language,  when  we  speak  of  them,  sir,  I  believe." 

"  Poh  !  poh  !  Timms ;  take  my  advice,  and  lot  all  these  small 
matters  alone.  It  takes  a  life  to  master  them,  and  one  must  be 
gin  from  the  cradle.  When  all  is  ended,  they  are  scarce  worth 
the  trouble  they  give.  Speak  good,  plain,  direct,  and  manly 
English,  I  have  always  told  you,  and  you'll  get  along  well 
enough ;  but  make  no  attempts  to  be  fine.  '  Dr.  McBrain  and 
lady,'  is  next  thing  <  to  going  through  Hurlgate/  or  meeting  a 
'  lady  friend.'  You  '11  never  get  the  right  sort  of  a  wife,  until 
you  drop  all  such  absurdities." 

"I  '11  tell  you  how  it  is,  'Squire  :  so  far  as  law  goes,  or  even 
morals,  and  I  don't  know  but  I  may  say  general  government 
politics,  I  look  upon  you  as  the  best  adviser  I  can  consult.  But, 
when  it  comes  to  matrimony,  I  can't  see  how  you  should  know 
any  more  about  it  than  I  do  myself.  I  do  intend  to  get  married 
one  of  these  days,  which  is  more,  I  fancy,  than  you  ever  had  in 
view." 

"  No ;  my  great  concern  has  been  to  escape  matrimony ;  but  a 
man  may  get  a  very  tolerable  notion  of  the  sex  while  manoeuvring 
among  them,  with  that  intention.  I  am  not  certain  that  he  whc 
has  had  two  or  three  handsomely  managed  escapes,  doesn't  learn 
as  much  as  he  who  has  had  two  or  three  wives  —  I  mean  of 
useful  information.  What  do  you  think  of  alJ  this,  Milling 
ton?" 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        179 

«That  I  wish  for  no  escapes,  when  my  choice  has  been  free 
wad  fortunate." 

"  And  you,  Jack  ?" 

"Sir!"  answered  the  nephew,  starting,  as  if  aroused  from  a 
t>rown  study.  "Did  you  speak  to  me,  uncle  Tom?" 

"He  '11  not  be  of  much  use  to  us  next  week,  Timrns,"  said 
the  counsellor,  coolly,  filling  his  own  and  his  neighbour's  glass 
as  he  spoke,  with  iced  Madeira — "These  capital  cases  demand 
the  utmost  vigilance;  more  especially  when  popular  prejudice 
sets  in  against  them." 

"  Should  the  jury  find  Mary  Monson  to  be  guilty,  what  would 
i)e  the  sentence  of  the  court?"  demanded  Sarah,  smiling,  even 
while  she  seemed  much  interested  —  "I  believe  that  is  right, 
Mike — the  court  '  sentences/  and  the  jury  ( convicts,'  If  there 
be  aDy  mistake,  you  must  answer  for  it." 

"  I  am  afraid  to  speak  of  laws,  or  constitutions,  in  the  presence 
of  your  uncle,  since  the  rebuke  Jack  and  I  got  in  that  affair  of 
the  toast,"  returned  Sarah's  betrothed,  arching  his  eye-brows. 

"  By  the  way,  Jack,  did  that  dinner  ever  corne  off?"  demanded 
the  uncle,  suddenly ;  "  I  looked  for  your  toasts  in  the  journals, 
but  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  seen  them." 

"  You  could  not  have  seen  any  of  mine,  sir ;  for  I  went  to 
Biberry  that  very  morning,  and  only  left  there  last  evening  "  — 
Anna's  countenance  resembled  a  lily,  just  as  it  begins  to  droop  — 
*l  I  believe,  however,  the  whole  affair  fell  through,  as  no  one  seems 
to  know,  just  now,  who  are  and  who  are  not  the  friends  of  liberty. 
It  is  the  people  to-day ;  the  pope  next  day ;  some  prince  to-mor 
row;  and,  by  the  end  of  the  week,  we  may  have  a  Massaniello 
or  a  Robespierre  uppermost.  The  times  seem  sadly  out  of  joint, 
just  now,  and  the  world  is  fast  getting  to  be  upside-down." 

"  It 's  all  owing  to  this  infernal  Code,  Timms,  which  is  enough 
to  revolutionize  human  nature  itself!"  cried  Dunscomb,  with  an 
Animation  that  produced  a  laugh  in  the  young  folk,  (Anne  ex- 


180  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

cepted,)  and  a  simper  in  the  person  addressed.  "  Ever  since  this 
thing  has  come  into  operation  among  us,  I  never  know  when  a 
case  is  to  be  heard,  the  decision  had,  or  the  principles  that  are 
to  come  uppermost.  Well,  we  must  try  and  get  some  good  out 
of  it,  if  we  can,  in  this  capital  case." 

"  Which  is  drawing  very  near,  'Squire;  and  I  have  some  facts 
to  communicate  in  that  affair  which  it  may  be  well  to  compare 
with  the  law,  without  much  more  delay." 

"  Let  us  finish  this  bottle  —  if  the  boys  help  us,  it  will  not  be 
much  more  than  a  glass  apiece." 

"I  don't  think  the  'Squire  will  ever  be  upheld  at  the  polls  by 
the  Temperance  people,"  said  Timms,  filling  his  glass  to  the  brim ; 
for,  to  own  the  truth,  it  was  seldom  that  he  got  such  wine. 

"  As  you  are  expecting  to  be  held  up  by  them,  my  fine  fellow. 
I've  heard  of  your  management,  master  Timms,  and  am  told 
you  aspire  as  high  as  the  State  Senate.  Well ;  there  is  room  for 
better,  but  much  worse  men  have  been  sent  there.  Now,  let  us 
go  to  what  I  call  the  '  Rattletrap  office/  " 


CHAPTER  XL 

**  The  strawberry  grows  underneath  the  nettle  j 
And  wholesome  berries  thrive  and  npen  best, 
Neighbour'd  by  fruit  of  baser  quality." 

King  Henry  V 

THERE  stood  a  very  pretty  pavilion  in  one  of  the  groves  of 
Rattletrap,  overhanging  the  water,  with  the  rock  of  the  river-shore 
for  its  foundation.  It  had  two  small  apartments,  in  one  of  which 
Dunscomb  had  caused  a  book-case,  a  table,  a  rocking-chair  and  a 
lounge  to  be  placed.  The  other  was  furnished  more  like  an  ordi 
nary  summer-house,  and  was  at  all  times  accessible  to  the  inmates 
of  the  family.  The  sanctum,  or  office,  was  kept  locked;  and 
here  its  owner  often  brought  his  papers,  and  passed  whole  days, 
during  the  warm  months,  when  it  is  the  usage  to  be  out  of  town, 
in  preparing  his  cases.  To  this  spot,  then,  the  counsellor  now 
held  his  way,  attended  by  Timms,  having  ordered  a  servant  to 
bring  a  light  and  some  segars ;  smoking  being  one  of  the  regular 
occupations  of  the  office.  In  a  few  minutes,  each  of  the  two  men 
of  the  law  had  a  segar  in  his  mouth,  and  was  seated  at  a  little 
window  that  commanded  a  fine  view  of  the  Hudson,  its  fleet  of 
sloops,  steamers,  tow-boats  and  colliers,  and  its  high,  rocky 
western  shore,  which  has  obtained  the  not  inappropriate  name  of 
'he  Palisades. 

The  segars,  the  glass,  and  the  pleasant  scenery,  teeming  as  was 
the  last  with  movement  and  life,  appeared,  for  the  moment,  to 
drive  from  the  minds  of  the  two  men  of  the  law  the  business  on 

(181) 


182  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

which  they  had  met.  It  was  a  proof  of  the  effect  of  habit  that 
a  person  like  Dunscomb,  who  was  really  a  good  man,  and  one 
who  loved  his  fellow-creatures,  could  just  then  forget  that  a 
human  life  was,  in  some  measure,  dependent  on  the  decisions  of 
this  very  interview,  and  permit  his  thoughts  to  wander  from  so 
important  an  interest.  So  it  was,  however ;  and  the  first  topic 
that  arose  in  this  consultation  had  no  reference  whatever  to  Mary 
Monson  or  her  approaching  trial,  though  it  soon  led  the  collo- 
quists  round  to  her  situation,  as  it  might  be  without  their  intend 
ing  it. 

"This  is  a  charming  retreat,  'Squire  Dunscomb,"  commenced 
Timms,  settling  himself  with  some  method  in  a  very  commodious 
arm-chair ;  "  and  one  that  I  should  often  frequent,  did  I  own  it." 

"  I  hope  you  will  live  to  be  master  of  one  quite  as  pleasant, 
Timms,  some  time  or  other.  They  tell  me  your  practice,  now,  is 
one  of  the  best  in  Duke's;  some  two  or  three  thousand  a  year,  I 
dare  say,  if  the  truth  were  known." 

"  It 's  as  good  as  anybody's  on  our  circuit,  unless  you  count 
the  bigwigs  from  York.  I  won't  name  the  sum,  even  to  as  old 
a  friend  as  yourself,  'Squire;  for  the  man  who  lets  the  world 
peep  into  his  purse,  will  soon  find  it  footing  him  up,  like  a  sum 
in  arithmetic.  You  've  gentlemen  in  town,  however,  who  some 
times  get  more  for  a  single  case,  than  I  can  'arn  in  a  twelve 
month." 

"  Still,  considering  your  beginning,  and  late  appearance  at  the 
bar,  Timms,  you  are  doing  pretty  well.  Do  you  lead  in  many 
trials  at  the  circuit?" 

"That  depends  pretty  much  on  age,  you  know,  'Squire. 
Gen' rally  older  lawyers  are  put  into  all  my  causes ;  but  I  have 
carried  one  or  two  through,  on  my  own  shoulders,  and  that  by 
main  strength  too." 

"  It  must  have  been  by  your  facts,  rather  than  by  your  law. 
The  verdicts  turned  altogether  on  testimony,  did  they  not?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  183 

"  Pretty  much  —  and  that 's  the  sort  of  case  I  like.  A  man 
can  prepare  his  evidence  beforehand,  and  make  some  calculations 
where  it  will  land  him ;  but,  as  for  the  law,  I  do  not  see  that 
studying  it  as  hard  as  I  will,  makes  me  much  the  wiser.  A  case 
is  no  sooner  settled  one  way,  by  a  judge  in  New  York,  than  it  is 
settled  in  another,  in  Pennsylvany  or  Virginny." 

"  And  that,  too,  when  courts  were  identical,  and  had  a  charac 
ter  !  Now,  we  have  eight  Supreme  Courts,  and  they  are  begin 
ning  to  settle  the  law  in  eight  different  ways.  Have  you  studied 
the  Code  pretty  closely,  Timms?" 

"  Not  I,  sir.  They  tell  me  things  will  come  round  under  it  in 
time,  and  I  try  to  be  patient.  There 's  one  thing  about  it  that  I 
do  like.  It  has  taken  all  the  Latin  out  of  the  law,  which  is  a 
great  help  to  us  poor  scholars/' 

"  It  has  that  advantage,  I  confess ;  and  before  it  is  done,  it 
will  take  all  the  law  out  of  the  Latin.  They  tell  me  it  was  pro 
posed  to  call  the  old  process  of  lne  exeat'  a  writ  of  'no  go/  n 

"  Well,  to  my  mind,  the  last  would  be  the  best  term  of  the 
two." 

"Ay,  to  your  mind,  it  might,  Timms.  How  do  you  like 
the  fee-bills,  and  the  new  mode  of  obtaining  your  compensa 
tion?" 

"  Capital !  The  more  they  change  them  matters,  the  deeper 
we  '11  dig  into  'em, ' Squire!  I  never  knew  reform  help  the  great 
body  of  the  community  —  all  it  favours  is  individdles." 

"  There  is  more  truth  in  that,  Timms,  than  you  are  probably 
aware  of  yourself.  Reform,  fully  half  the  time,  does  no  more 
than  shift  the  pack-saddle  from  one  set  of  shoulders  to  another. 
Nor  do  I  believe  much  is  gained  by  endeavouring  to  make  law 
cheap.  It  were  better  for  the  community  that  it  should  be  dear ; 
though  cases  do  occur  in  which  its  charges  might  amount  to  a 
denial  of  justice.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  world  oftener 
decides  under  the  influence  of  exceptions,  rather  than  under  that 


184  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

of  the  rule.     Besides,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  check  the  gains  of 
a  thousand  or  two  of  hungry  attorneys." 

u There  you're  right,  'Squire,  if  you  never  hit  the  nail  on  the 
head  before  !  But  the  new  scheme  is  working  well  for  us,  and, 
in  one  sense,  it  may  work  well  for  the  people.  The  compensation 
is  the  first  thing  thought  of  now ;  and  when  that  is  the  case,  the 
client  stops  to  think.  It  isn't  every  person  that  holds  as  large 
and  as  open  a  purse  as  our  lady  at  Biberry !" 

"  Ay,  she  continues  to  fee  you,  does  she,  Timms  ?  Pray,  how 
much  has  she  given  you  altogether?" 

"  Not  enough  to  build  a  new  wing  to  the  Astor  Library,  nor 
to  set  up  a  parson  in  a  gothic  temple ;  still,  enough  to  engage 
me,  heart  and  hand,  in  her  service.  First  and  last,  my  receipts 
have  been  a  thousand  dollars,  besides  money  for  the  outlays." 

"Which  have  amounted  to " 

"  More  than  as  much  more.  This  is  a  matter  of  life  and 
death,  you  know,  sir ;  and  prices  rise  accordingly.  All  I  have 
received  has  been  handed  to  me  either  in  gold  or  in  good  current 
paper.  The  first  troubled  me  a  good  deal ;  for  I  was  not  certain 
some  more  pieces  might  not  be  recognized,  though  they  were  all 
eagles  and  half-eagles." 

"  Has  any  such  recognition  occurred  ?"  demanded  Dunscomb, 
with  interest. 

"  To  be  frank  with  you,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  I  sent  the  money 
to  town  at  once,  and  set  it  afloat  in  the  great  current  in  Wall 
Street,  where  it  could  do  neither  good  nor  harm  on  the  trial.  It 
would  have  been  very  green  in  me  to  pay  out  the  precise  coin 
among  the  people  of  Duke's.  No  one  could  say  what  might 
have  been  the  consequences." 

"  It  is  not  very  easy  for  me  to  foretell  the  consequences  of  the 
Bubstitutes  which,  it  seems,  you  did  use.  A  fee  to  a  counsel  I 
can  understand;  but  what  the  deuce  you  have  done,  legally, 
with  a  thousand  dollars  out-of-doors,  exceeds  my  penetration. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  185 

I   trust  you  have   not  been   attempting   to   purchase   jurors, 
Timms?" 

"  Not  I,  sir,  I  know  the  penalties  too  well,  to  venture  on  such 
a  defence.  Besides,  it  is  too  soon  to  attempt  that  game.  Jurors 
may  be  bought ;  sometimes  are  bought,  I  have  heard  say" — here 
Timms  screwed  up  his  face  into  a  most  significant  mimicry  of 
disapprobation  —  "  but  /  have  done  nothing  of  the  sort  in  the 
1  State  vs.  Mary  Monson.'  It  is  too  soon  to  operate,  even  should 
the  testimony  drive  us  to  that,  in  the  long  run." 

"  I  forbid  all  illegal  measures,  Timms.  You  know  my  rule  of 
trying  causes  is  never  to  overstep  the  limits  of  the  law." 

"Yes,  sir;  I  understand  your  principle,  which  will  answer, 
provided  both  sides  stick  to  it.  But,  let  a  man  act  as  close  to 
what  is  called  honesty  as  he  please,  what  certainty  has  he  that 
his  adversary  will  observe  the  same  rule  ?  This  is  the  great 
difficulty  I  find  in  getting  along  in  the  world,  'Squire;  opposition 
upsets  all  a  man's  best  intentions.  Now,  in  politics,  sir,  there  is 
no  man  in  the  countr}T  better  disposed  to  uphold  respectable  can 
didates  and  just  principles  than  I  am  myself;  but  the  other  side 
squeeze  us  up  so  tight,  that  before  the  election  comes  off,  I  'm 
ready  to  vote  for  the  devil,  rather  than  get  the  worst  of  it." 

"Ay,  that's  the  wicked  man's  excuse  all  over  the  world, 
Timms.  In  voting  for  the  gentleman  you  have  just  mentioned, 
you  will  remember  you  are  sustaining  the  enemy  of  your  race, 
whatever  may  be  his  particular  relation  to  his  party.  But  in  this 
affair  at  Biberry,  you  will  please  to  remember  it  is  not  an  elec 
tion,  nor  is  the  devil  a  candidate.  What  success  have  you  had 
with  the  testimony?" 

"  There  's  an  abstract  of  it,  sir ;  and  a  pretty  mess  it  is  !  So 
far  as  I  can  see,  we  shall  have  to  rest  entirely  on  the  witnesses 
of  the  State ;  for  I  can  get  nothing  out  of  the  accused." 

"  Does  she  still  insist  on  her  silence,  in  respect  of  the  past?" 
«<  As  close  as  if  she  had  been  born  dumb.     I  have  told  her  in 


186  THE  WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

the  strongest  language  that  her  life  depends  on  her  appearing  be« 
fore  the  jury  with  a  plain  tale  and  a  good  character ;  but  she  wiL 
help  me  to  neither.  I  never  had  such  a  client  before — " 

"  Open-handed,  you  mean,  I  suppose,  Timms?" 

"In  that  partic'lar,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  she  is  just  what  the 
profession  likes  —  liberal,  and  pays  down.  Of  course,  I  am  so 
much  the  more  anxious  to  do  ail  I  can  in  her  case ;  but  she  will 
not  let  me  serve  her." 

"  There  must  be  some  strong  reason  for  all  this  reserve,  Timms 
—  Have  you  questioned  the  Swiss  maid,  that  my  niece  sent  to 
her.  We  know  her,  and  it  would  seem  that  she  knows  Mary 
Monson.  Here  is  so  obvious  a  way  of  coming  at  the  past,  I 
trust  you  have  spoken  to  her?" 

"  She  will  not  let  me  say  a  word  to  the  maid.  There  they  live 
together,  chatter  with  one  another  from  morning  to  night,  in 
French,  that  nobody  understands ;  but  will  see  no  one  but  me, 
and  me  only  in  public,  as  it  might  be." 

"In  public ! — You  have  not  asked  for  private  interviews,  eh  ! 
Timms  ?  Remember  your  views  upon  the  county,  and  the  great 
danger  there  is  of  the  electors'  finding  you  out." 

"  I  well  know,  '  Squire  Dunscomb,  that  your  opinion  of  me  is 
not  very  flattering  in  some  partic'lars ;  while  in  others  I  think 
you  place  me  pretty  well  up  the  ladder.  As  for  old  Duke's,  I 
believe  I  stand  as  well  in  that  county  as  any  man  in  it,  now  the 
Revolutionary  patriots  are  nearly  gone.  So  long  as  any  of  them 
lasted,  we  modern  fellows  had  no  chance ;  and  the  way  in  which 
relics  were  brought  to  light  was  wonderful !  If  Washington  only 
had  an  army  one-tenth  as  strong  as  these  patriots  make  it  out  to 
be,  he  would  have  driven  the  British  from  the  country  years 
sooner  than  it  was  actually  done.  Luckily,  my  grandfather  did 
serve  a  short  tour  of  duty  in  that  war ;  and  my  own  father  was  a 
captain  of  militia  in  1814,  lying  out  on  Harlem  Heights  and 
Harlem  Common,  most  of  the  fall ;  when  and  where  he  caught 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  187 

the  rheumatism.  This  was  no  bad  capital  to  start  upon ;  and, 
though  you  treat  it  lightly,  'Squire,  I'm  a  favourite  in  the  county 
—I  am  1" 

"  Nobody  doubts  it,  Tirnms ;  or  can  doubt  it,  if  he  knew  the 
history  of  these  matters.  Let  me  see — I  believe  1  first  heard  of 
you  as  a  Temperance  Lecturer  ?" 

"  Excuse  me ;  I  began  with  the  Common  Schools,  on  which  I 
lectured  with  some  success,  one  whole  season.  Then  came  the 
Temperance  cause,  out  of  which,  I  will  own,  not  a  little  capital 
was  made." 

"And  do  you  stop  there,  Timms;  or  do  you  ride  some  other 
hobby  into  power?" 

"  It 's  my  way,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  to  try  all  sorts  of  med'cines. 
Some  folks  that  wunt  touch  rhubarb  will  swallow  salts;  and  all 
palates  must  be  satisfied.  Free  Sile  and  Emancipation  Doctrines 
are  coming  greatly  into  favour ;  but  they  are  ticklish  things,  that 
cut  like  a  two-edged  sword,  and  I  do  not  fancy  meddling  with 
them.  There  are  about  as  many  opposed  to  meddling  with  slavery 
in  the  free  States,  as  there  are  in  favour  of  it.  I  wish  I  knew 
your  sentiments,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  on  this  subject.  I  've  always 
found  your  doctrines  touching  the  Constitution  to  be  sound,  and 
such  as  would  stand  examination." 

"  The  constitutional  part  of  the  question  is  very  simple,  and 
presents  no  difficulties  whatever,"  returned  the  counsellor,  squint 
ing  through  the  ruby  of  his  glass,  with  an  old-bachelor  sort  of 
delight,  "  except  for  those  who  have  special  ends  to  obtain." 

"  Has,  or  has  not,  Congress  a  legal  right  to  enact  laws  prevent 
ing  the  admission  of  slaves  into  California?" 

"  Congress  has  the  legal  right  to  govern  any  of  its  territories 
despotically ;  of  course,  to  admit  or  to  receive  what  it  may  please 
within  their  limits.  The  resident  of  a  territory  is  not  a  citizen, 
and  has  no  legal  claim  to  be  so  considered.  California,  as  a  con 
quered  territory,  may  be  thus  governed  by  the  laws  of  nations, 


188  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

unless  the  treaty  of  cession  places  some  restrictions  on  the  author 
rity  of  the  conqueror.  A  great  deal  of  absurdity  is  afloat  among 
those  who  should  know  better,  touching  the  powers  of  government 
in  this  country.  You;  yourself,  are  one  of  those  fellows,  Timms, 
who  get  things  upside-down,  and  fancy  the  Constitution  is  to  be 
looked  into  for  everything." 

"  And  is  it  not,  ' Squire  ? —  that  is,  in  the  way  of  theory  —  in 
practice,  I  know  it  is  a  very  different  matter.  Are  we  not  to  look 
into  the  Constitution  for  all  the  powers  of  the  government?" 

"  Of  the  government,  perhaps,  in  one  sense — but  not  for  those 
of  the  nation.  Whence  come  the  powers  to  make  war  and  peace, 
to  form  treaties  and  alliances,  maintain  armies  and  navies,  coin 
money,  &c.  ?" 

"  You  '11  find  them  all  in  the  Constitution,  as  I  read  it,  sir." 

"  There  is  just  your  mistake ;  and  connected  with  it  are  most 
of  the  errors  that  are  floating  about  in  our  political  world.  The 
country  gets  its  legal  right  to  do  all  these  things  from  the  laws 
of  nations ;  the  Constitution  merely  saying  who  shall  be  its  agents 
in  the  exercise  of  these  powers.  Thus  war  is  rendered  legal  by 
the  custom  of  nations ;  and  the  Constitution  says  Congress  shall 
declare  war.  It  also  says  Congress  shall  pass  all  laws  that  be 
come  necessary  to  carry  out  this  power.  It  follows,  Congress 
may  pass  any  law  that  has  a  legitimate  aim  to  secure  a  conquest. 
Nor  is  this  all  the  functionaries  of  the  government  can  do,  on 
general  principles,  in  the  absence  of  any  special  provisions  by  a 
direct  law.  The  latter  merely  supersedes  or  directs  the  power 
of  the  former.  The  Constitution  guarantees  nothing  to  the  ter 
ritories.  They  are  strictly  subject,  and  may  be  governed  abso 
lutely.  The  only  protection  of  their  people  is  in  the  sympathy 
and  habits  of  the  people  of  the  States.  We  give  them  political 
liberty,  not  as  of  legal  necessity,  but  as  a  boon  to  which  they  are 
entitled  in  good-fellowship  —  or  as  the  father  provides  for  his 
enildren." 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  189 

"  Then  you  think  Congress  has  power  to  exclude  slavery  from 
California?" 

"  I  can't  imagine  a  greater  legal  absurdity  than  to  deny  it.  I 
see  no  use  in  any  legislation  on  the  subject,  as  a  matter  of  prac 
tice,  since  California  will  shortly  decide  on  this  interest  for  itself; 
but,  as  a  right  in  theory,  it  strikes  me  to  be  madness  to  deny 
that  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  full  power  over  all 
its  territories,  both  on  general  principles  and  under  the  Constitu 
tion." 

"  And  in  the  Deestrict  —  you  hold  to  the  same  power  in  the 
Deestrict?" 

"  Beyond  a  question.  Congress  can  abolish  domestic  servitude 
or  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  whenever  it  shall  see  fit. 
The  right  is  as  clear  as  the  sun  at  noon-day." 

"  If  these  are  your  opinions,  'Squire,  I  '11  go  for  Free  Sile  and 
Abolition  in  the  Deestrict.  They  have  a  popular  cry,  and  take 
wonderfully  well  in  Duke's,  and  will  build  me  up  considerable. 
I  like  to  be  right ;  but,  most  of  all,  I  like  to  be  strong." 

"  If  you  adopt  such  a  course,  you  will  espouse  trouble  without 
any  dower,  and  that  will  be  worse  than  McBrain's  three  wives  ; 
and,  what  is  more,  in  the  instance  of  the  District,  you  will  be 
guilty  of  an  act  of  oppression.  You  will  remember  that  the 
possession  of  a  legal  power  to  do  a  particular  thing,  does  not  infer 
a  moral  right  to  exercise  it.  As  respects  your  Free  Soil,  it  may 
be  well  to  put  down  a  foot ;  and,  so  far  as  votes  legally  used  can 
be  thrown,  to  prevent  the  further  extension  of  slavery.  In  this 
respect  you  are  right  enough,  and  will  be  sustained  by  an  over 
whelming  majority  of  the  nation;  but,  when  it  comes  to  the 
District,  the  question  has  several  sides  to  it." 

"  You  said  yourself,  'Squire,  that  Congress  has  all  power  to 
legislate  for  the  Deestrict?" 

"  No  doubt  it  has  —  but  the  possession  of  a  power  does  not 
necessarily  imply  its  use.  We  have  power,  as  a  nation,  to  make 


190  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

war  on  little  Portugal,  and  crush  her;  but  it  would  be  very 
wicked  to  do  so.  "When  a  member  of  Congress  votes  on  any 
question  that  strictly  applies  to  the  District,  he  should  reason 
precisely  as  if  his  constituents  all  lived  in  the  District  itself. 
You  will  understand,  Timms,  that  liberty  is  closely  connected 
with  practice,  and  is  not  a  mere  creature  of  phrases  and  pro 
fessions.  What  more  intolerable  tyranny  could  exist  than  to  have 
a  man  elected  by  New  Yorkers  legislating  for  the  District  on 
strictly  New  York  policy ;  or,  if  you  will,  on  New  York  prejudices? 
If  the  people  of  the  District  wish  to  get  rid  of  the  institution 
of  domestic  slavery,  there  are  ways  for  ascertaining  the  fact ;  and 
once  assured  of  that,  Congress  ought  to  give  the  required  relief. 
But  in  framing  such  a  law,  great  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
violate  the  comity  of  the  Union.  The  comity  of  nations  is,  in 
practice,  a  portion  of  their  laws,  and  is  respected  as  such ;  how 
much  more,  then,  ought  we  to  respect  this  comity  in  managing 
the  relations  between  the  several  States  of  this  Union  I" 

"Yes,  the  sovereign  States  of  the  Union,"  laying  emphasis 
on  the  word  we  have  italicized. 

"  Pshaw  —  they  are  no  more  sovereign  than  you  and  I  are  so 
vereign." 

"Not  sovereign,  sir!"  exclaimed  Timms,  actually  jumping  to 
his  feet  in  astonishment ;  "  why  this  is  against  the  National  Faith 
—  contrary  to  all  the  theories." 

"  Something  so,  I  must  confess ;  yet  very  good  common  sense. 
If  there  be  any  sovereignty  left  in  the  States,  it  is  the  very 
minimum,  and  a  thing  of  show,  rather  than  of  substance.  If 
you  will  look  at  the  Constitution,  you  will  find  that  the  equal 
representation  of  the  States  in  the  Senate  is  the  only  right  of  a 
sovereign  character  that  is  left  to  the  members  of  the  Union, 
separate  and  apart  from  their  confederated  communities." 

Timms  rubbed  his  brows,  and  seemed  to  be  in  some  mental 
trouble.  The  doctrine  of  the  "  Sovereign  States"  is  so  very  com- 


THE   WAYS    CF    THE    HOUR.  *91 

mon,,  so  familiar  in  men's  mouths,  that  no  one  dreams  of  disputing 
it.  Nevertheless,  Dunscomb  had  a  great  reputation  in  his  set,  as 
a  constitutional  lawyer;  and  the  "expounders"  were  very  apt  to 
steal  his  demonstrations,  without  giving  him  credit  for  them.  As 
before  the  nation,  a  school-boy  would  have  carried  equal  weight  j 
but  the  direct,  vigorous,  common-sense  arguments  that  he  brought 
to  the  discussions,  as  well  as  the  originality  of  his  views,  ever 
commanded  the  profound  respect  of  the  intelligent.  Timms  had 
cut  out  for  himself  a  path  by  which  he  intended  to  ascend  in  the 
scale  of  society ;  and  had  industriously,  if  not  very  profoundly, 
considered  all  the  agitating  questions  of  the  day,  in  the  relations 
they  might  be  supposed  to  bear  to  his  especial  interests.  He  had 
almost  determined  to  come  out  an  abolitionist;  for  he  saw  that 
the  prejudices  of  the  hour  were  daily  inclining  the  electors  of  the 
northern  States,  more  and  more,  to  oppose  the  further  extension 
of  domestic  slavery,  so  far  as  surface  was  concerned,  which  was 
in  effect  preparing  the  way  for  the  final  destruction  of  the  insti 
tution  altogether.  For  Mr.  Dunscomb,  however,  this  wily  limb 
of  the  law,  and  skilful  manager  of  men,  had  the  most  profound 
respect ;  and  he  was  very  glad  to  draw  him  out  still  further  on  a 
subject  that  was  getting  to  be  of  such  intense  interest  to  himself, 
as  well  as  to  the  nation  at  large ;  for,  out  of  all  doubt,  it  is  the 
question,  not  only  of  the  "  Hour,"  but  for  years  to  come. 

"  Well,  sir,  this  surprises  me  more  and  more.  The  States  not 
sovereign  !  —  Why,  they  gave  all  the  power  it  possesses  to  the 
Federal  Government!" 

"  Very  true ;  and  it  is  precisely  for  that  reason  they  are  not 
sovereign — that  which  is  given  away  is  no  longer  possessed.  All 
the  great  powers  of  sovereignty  are  directly  bestowed  on  the 
Union,  which  alone  possesses  them." 

"  I  will  grant  you  that,  '  Squire ;  but  enough  is  retained  to 
hang  either  of  us.  The  deuce  is  in  it  if  that  be  not  a  sovereign 
power." 


192  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  It  does  not  follow  from  the  instance  cited.  Send  a  squadron 
abroad,  and  its  officers  can  hang ;  but  they  are  not  sovereign,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  there  is  a  recognised  authority  over  them, 
which  can  increase,  sustain,  or  take  away  altogether,  any  such 
and  all  other  power.  Thus  is  it  with  the  States.  By  a  particular 
clause,  the  Constitution  can  be  amended,  including  all  the  interests 
involved,  with  a  single  exception.  This  is  an  instance  in  which 
the  exception  does  strictly  prove  the  rule.  All  interests  but  the 
one  excepted  can  be  dealt  with,  by  a  species  of  legislation  that  is 
higher  than  common.  The  Union  can  constitutionally  abolish 
domestic  slavery  altogether " 

"  It  can ! — It  would  be  the  making  of  any  political  man's  for 
tune  to  be  able  to  show  that !" 

"Nothing  is  easier  than  to  show  it,  in  the  way  of  theory, 
Timms ;  though  nothing  would  be  harder  to  achieve,  in  the  way 
of  practice.  The  Constitution  can  be  legally  amended  so  as  to 
effect  this  end,  provided  majorities  in  three-fourths  of  the  States 
can  be  obtained ;  though  every  living  soul  in  the  remaining  States 
were  opposed  to  it.  That  this  is  the  just  construction  of  the 
great  fundamental  law,  as  it  has  been  solemnly  adopted,  no  dis 
creet  man  can  doubt  ]  though,  on  the  other  hand,  no  discreet 
person  would  think  of  attempting  such  a  measure,  as  the  vote 
necessary  to  success  cannot  be  obtained.  To  talk  of  the  sove 
reignty  of  a  community  over  this  particular  interest,  for  instance, 
when  all  the  authority  on  the  subject  can  be  taken  from  it  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  every  man,  woman  and  child 
it  contains,  is  an  absurdity.  The  sovereignty,  as  respects  slavery, 
is  in  the  Union,  and  not  in  the  several  States ;  and  therein  you 
can  see  the  fallacy  of  contending  that  Congress  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  interest,  when  Congress  can  take  the  initiative  in  alter 
ing  this  or  any  other  clause  of  the  great  national  compact." 

"  But,  the  Deestrict — the  Deestrict,  'Squire  Dunscomb — what 
can  and  ought  to  be  done  there?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  1N3 

"  I  believe  in  my  soul,  Timms,  you  have  an  aim  on  a  seat  in 
Congress !  Why  stop  short  of  the  Presidency  ?  Men  as  little 
likely  as  yourself  to  be  elevated  to  that  high  office  have  been 
placed  in  the  executive  chair ;  and  why  not  you  as  well  as  an 
other?" 

"  It  is  an  office  '  neither  to  be  sought  nor  declined/  said  an 
eminent  statesman,"  answered  Timms,  with  a  seriousness  that 
amused  his  companion ;  who  saw,  by  his  manner,  that  his  old 
pupil  held  himself  in  reserve  for  the  accidents  of  political  life. 
"  But,  sir,  I  am  very  anxious  to  get  right  on  the  subject  of  the 
Deestrict"  —  Timms  pronounced  this  word  as  we  have  spelt  it  — 
"  and  I  know  that  if  any  man  can  set  me  right,  it  is  yourself." 

"  As  respects  the  District,  Mr.  Timms,  here  is  my  faith.  It 
is  a  territory  provided  for  in  the  Constitution  for  a  national  pur 
pose,  and  must  be  regarded  as  strictly  national  property,  held 
exclusively  for  objects  that  call  all  classes  of  citizens  within  its 
borders.  Now,  two  great  principles,  in  my  view,  should  control 
all  legislation  for  this  little  community.  As  I  have  said  already, 
it  would  be  tyranny  to  make  the  notions  and  policy  of  New  York 
or  Yermont  bear  on  the  legislation  of  the  District ;  but,  every 
member  is  bound  to  act  strictly  as  a  representative  of  the  people 
of  the  spot  for  whom  the  law  is  intended.  If  I  were  in  Congress, 
I  would  at  any  time,  on  a  respectable  application,  vote  to  refer 
the  question  of  abolition  to  the  people  of  the  District;  if  they 
said  ay,  I  would  say  ay;  if  no,  no.  Beyond  this  I  would  never 
go ;  nor  do  I  think  the  man  who  wishes  to  push  matters  beyond 
this,  sufficiently  respects  the  general  principles  of  representative 
government,  or  knows  how  to  respect  the  spirit  of  the  national 
compact.  On  the  supposition  that  the  District  ask  relief  from 
the  institution  of  slavery,  great  care  should  be  observed  in  grant 
ing  the  necessary  legislation.  Although  the  man  in  SouthjDaro- 
lina  has  no  more  right  to  insist  that  the  District  should  maintain 
the  '  peculiar  institution/  because  his  particular  State  maintains 

9 


Itf4  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

it,  than  the  Vermontese  to  insist  on  carrying  his  Green  Mountain 
notions  into  the  District  laws;  yet  has  the  Carolinian  rights  in 
this  territory  that  must  ever  be  respected,  let  the  general  policy 
adopted  be  what  it  may.  Every  American  has  an  implied  right 
to  visit  the  District  on  terms  of  equality.  Now,  there  would  be 
no  equality  if  a  law  were  passed  excluding  the  domestics  from 
any  portion  of  the  country.  In  the  slave  States,  slaves  exclu 
sively  perform  the  functions  of  domestics ;  and  sweeping  abolition 
might  very  easily  introduce  regulations  that  would  be  unjust  to 
wards  the  slave-holders.  As  respects  the  northern  man,  the 
existence  of  slavery  in  or  out  of  the  District  is  purely  a  specula 
tive  question ;  but  it  is  not  so  with  the  southern.  This  should 
never  be  forgotten;  and  I  always  feel  disgust  when  I  hear  a 
northern  man  swagger  and  make  a  parade  of  his  morality  on  this 
subject." 

"  But  the  southern  men  swagger  and  make  a  parade  of  their 
chivalry,  'Squire,  on  the  other  hand  I" 

"  Quite  true ;  but,  with  them,  there  is  a  strong  provocation. 
It  is  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to  the  south ;  and  the  comity  of 
which  I  spoke  requires  great  moderation  on  our  part.  As  for  the 
threats  of  dissolution,  of  which  we  have  had  so  many,  like  the 
cry  of  (  wolf/  they  have  worn  themselves  out,  and  are  treated 
with  indifference." 

"The  threat  is  still  used,  Mr.  Dunscomb !" 

"  Beyond  a  doubt,  Timms ;  but  of  one  thing  you  may  rest  well 
assured  —  if  ever  there  be  a  separation  between  the  free  and  the 
slave  States  of  this  Union,  the  wedge  will  be  driven  home  by 
northern  hands ;  not  by  indirection,  but  coolly,  steadily,  and  with 
a  thorough  northern  determination  to  open  the  seam.  There 
will  be  no  fuss  about  chivalry,  but  the  thing  will  be  done.  I 
regard  the  measure  as  very  unlikely  to  happen,  the  Mississippi 
and  its  tributaries  binding  the  States  together,  to  say  nothing  of 
ancestry,  history,  and  moral  ties,  in  a  way  to  render  a  rupture 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  195 

very  difficult  to  effect ;  but,  should  it  come  at  all,  rely  on  it,  it 
will  come  directly  from  the  north.  I  am  sorry  to  say  there  is  an 
impatience  of  the  threats  and  expedients  that  have  so  much  dis 
figured  southern  policy,  that  have  set  many  at  the  north  to  '  cal 
culating  the  value  •/  and  thousands  may  now  be  found  where  ten 
years  since  it  would  not  have  been  easy  to  meet  with  one,  who 
deem  separation  better  than  union  with  slavery.  Still,  the 
general  feeling  of  the  north  is  passive ;  and  I  trust  it  will  so  con 
tinue." 

"  Look  at  the  laws  for  the  recovery  of  fugitives,  'Squire,  and 
the  manner  in  which  they  are  administered." 

"  Bad  enough,  I  grant  you,  and  full  of  a  want  of  good  faith. 
Go  to  the  bottom  of  this  subject,  Timms,  or  let  it  alone  altoge 
ther.  Some  men  will  tell  you  that  slavery  is  a  sin,  and  contrary 
to  revealed  religion.  This  I  hold  to  be  quite  untrue.  At  all 
events,  if  it  be  a  sin,  it  is  a  sin  to  give  the  son  the  rich  inherit 
ance  of  the  father,  instead  of  dividing  it  among  the  poor ;  to  eat 
a  dinner  while  a  hungrier  man  than  yourself  is  within  sound  of 
your  voice ;  or,  indeed,  to  do  anything  that  is  necessary  and  agree 
able,  when  the  act  may  be  still  more  necessary  to,  or  confer  greater 
pleasure  on,  another.  I  believe  in  a  Providence ;  and  I  make 
little  doubt  that  African  slavery  is  an  important  feature  in  God's 
Laws,  instead  of  being  disobedience  to  them.  —  But  enough  of 
this,  Timms  —  you  will  court  popularity,  which  is  your  Archime 
dean  lever,  arid  forget  all  I  tell  you.  Is  Mary  Monson  in  greater 
favour  now  than  when  I  last  saw  you?" 

"  The  question  is  not  easily  answered,  sir.  She  pays  well,  and 
money  is  a  powerful  screw!" 

"  I  do  not  inquire  what  you  do  with  her  money,"  said  Duns- 
comb,  with  the  evasion  of  a  man  who  knew  that  it  would  not  do 
to  probe  every  weak  spot  in  morals,  any  more  than  it  would  do 
to  inflame  the  diseases  of  the  body ;  "  but,  I  own,  I  should  like 
to  know  if  our  client  has  any  suspicions  of  its  uses?" 


196  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

Timing  now  cast  a  furtive  glance  behind  him,  and  edged  his 
chair  nearer  to  his  companion,  in  a  confidential  way,  as  if  he 
would  trust  him  with  a  private  opinion  that  he  should  keep  reli 
giously  from  all  others. 

"  Not  only  does  she  know  all  about  it,"  he  answered,  with  a 
knowing  inclination  of  the  head,  "  but  she  enters  into  the  affair, 
heart  and  hand.  To  my  great  surprise,  she  has  even  made  two 
or  three  suggestions  that  were  capital  in  their  way !  Capital ! 
yes,  sir ;  quite  capital !  If  you  were  not  so  stiff  in  your  practice, 
'Squire,  I  should  delight  to  tell  you  all  about  it.  She 's  sharp, 
you  may  depend  on  it !  She 's  wonderfully  sharp  !" 

"  What !  —  That  refined,  lady-like,  accomplished  young  wo 
man!" 

"  She  has  an  accomplishment  or  two  you  've  never  dreamed 
of,  'Squire.  I  'd  pit  her  ag'in  the  sharpest  practitioner  in  Duke's, 
and  she  Jd  come  out  ahead.  I  thought  I  knew  something  of  pre 
paring  a  cause ;  but  she  has  given  hints  that  will  be  worth  more 
to  me  than  all  her  fees ! " 

"  You  do  not  mean  that  she  shows  experience  in  such  prac 
tices?" 

"  Perhaps  not.  It  seems  more  like  mother-wit,  I  acknowledge ; 
but  it 's  mother-wit  of  the  brightest  sort.  She  understands  them 
reporters  by  instinct,  as  it  might  be.  What  is  more,  she  backs 
all  her  suggestions  with  gold,  or  current  bank-notes." 

"  And  where  can  she  get  so  much  money  ? " 

"  That  is  more  than  I  can  tell  you,"  returned  Timms,  opening 
some  papers  belonging  to  the  case,  and  laying  them  a  little  form 
ally  before  the  senior  counsel,  to  invite  his  particular  attention. 
"  I  've  never  thought  it  advisable  to  ask  the  question." 

"  Timms,  you  do  not,  cannot  think  Mary  Monson  guilty  ?" 

11 1  never  go  beyond  the  necessary  facts  of  a  case ;  and  my 
opinion  is  of  no  consequence  whatever.  We  are  employed  to 
defend  her ;  and  the  counsel  for  the  State  are  not  about  to  get  a 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       197 

verdict  without  some  working  for  it.     That 's  my  conscience  in 
these  matters,  'Squire  Dunscomb." 

Dunscomb  asked  no  more  questions.  He  turned  gloomily  to 
the  papers,  shoved  his  glass  aside,  as  if  it  gave  him  pleasure  no 
longer,  and  began  to  read.  For  near  four  hours  he  and  Tiinms 
were  earnestly  engaged  in  preparing  &  brief,  and  in  otherwise 
getting  the  cause  ready  for  trial. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Hel.  O,  that  my  prayers  could  such  affection  move  J 
Her.  The  more  I  hate,  the  more  he  follows  me. 
Hel.  The  more  I  love,  the  more  he  hateth  me. 
Her.  His  folly,  Helena,  is  no  fault  of  mine. 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream. 

WHILE  Dunscomb  and  Timins  were  thus  employed,  the  youngei 
members  of  the  party  very  naturally  sought  modes  of  entertain 
ment  that  were  more  in  conformity  with  their  tastes  and  years. 
John  Wilmeter  had  been  invited  to  be  present  at  the  consulta 
tion  ;  but  his  old  feelings  were  revived,  and  he  found  a  pleasure 
in  being  with  Anna  that  induced  him  to  disregard  the  request. 
His  sister  and  his  friend  were  now  betrothed,  and  they  had 
glided  off  along  one  of  the  pretty  paths  of  the  Rattletrap 
woods,  in  a  way  that  is  so  very  common  to  persons  in  their  situa 
tion.  This  left  Jack  alone  with  Anna.  The  latter  was  timid, 
shy  even ;  while  the  former  was  thoughtful.  Still,  it  was  not 
easy  to  separate ;  and  they,  too,  almost  unconsciously  to  them 
selves,  were  soon  walking  in  that  pleasant  wood,  following  one 
of  its  broadest  and  most  frequented  paths,  however. 

John,  naturally  enough,  imputed  the  thoughtfulness  of  his 
companion  to  the  event  of  the  morning ;  and  he  spoke  kindly  to 
her,  and  with  a  gentle  delicacy  on  the  subject,  that  more  than 
once  compelled  the  warm-hearted  girl  to  struggle  against  her 
tears.  After  he  had  said  enough  on  this  topic,  the  young  man 
followed  the  current  of  his  own  thoughts,  and  sx>oke  of  her  he 
had  left  in  the  gaol  of  Biberry. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  199 

•"  Her  case  is  most  extraordinary/'  continued  John,  "  arid  it 
nas  excited  our  liveliest  sympathy.  By  ours,  I  mean  the  disin 
terested  and  intelligent ;  for  the  vulgar  prejudice  is  strong  against 
her.  Sarah,  or  even  yourself,  Anna"  —  his  companion  looked 
more  like  herself,  at  this  implied  compliment,  than  she  had  done 
before  that  day — "  could  not  seem  less-  likely  to  be  guilty  of  any 
thing  wrong,  than  this  Miss  Monson ;  yet  she  stands  indicted, 
and  is  to  be  tried  for  murder  and  arson  !  To  me,  it  seems  mon 
strous  to  suspect  such  a  person  of  crimes  so  heinous." 

Anna  remained  silent  half  a  minute;  for  she  had  sufficient 
good  sense  to  know  that  appearances,  unless  connected  with  facts, 
ought  to  have  no  great  weight  in  forming  an  opinion  of  guilt  or 
innocence.  As  Jack  evidently  expected  an  answer,  however,  his 
companion  made  an  effort  to  speak. 

"  Does  she  say  nothing  of  her  friends,  nor  express  a  wish  to 
have  them  informed  of  her  situation?"  Anna  succeeded  in 
asking. 

"  Not  a  syllable.  I  could  not  speak  to  her  on  the  subject,  you 
know » 

"Why  not?"  demanded  Anna,  quickly. 

"  Why  not  ? — You  've  no  notion,  Anna,  of  the  kind  of  person 
this  Miss  Monson  is.  You  cannot  talk  to  her  as  you  would  to  an 
-every-day  sort  of  young  lady }  and,  now  she  is  in  such  distress, 
one  is  naturally  more  cautious  about  saying  anything  to  add  to 
Iier  sorrow." 

"  Yes,  I  <jan  understand  that,"  returned  the  generous-minded 
girl ;  "  and  I  think  you  are  very  right  to  remember  all  this,  on 
every  occasion.  Still,  it  is  so  natural  for  a  female  to  lean  on  her 
friends,  in  every  great  emergency,  I  cannot  but  wonder  that  your 
client » 

"  Don't  call  her  my  client,  Anna,  I  beg  of  you.  I  hate  the 
word  as  applied  to  this  lady.  If  I  serve  her  in  any  degree,  it  is 
solely  as  a  friend.  The  same  feeling  prevails  with  Uncle  Tom  ; 


200  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

for  I  understand  he  has  not  received  a  cent  of  Miss  Monson's 
money,  though  she  is  liberal  of  it  to  profuseness-  Tiinms  is 
actually  getting  rich  on  it." 

"  Is  it  usual  for  you  gentlemen  of  the  bar  to  give  their  ser 
vices  gratuitously  to  those  who  can  pay  for  them  ?"' 

"  As  far  from  it  as  possible/'  returned  Jack,  laughing,  "  Wo 
look  to  the  main  chance  like  so  many  merchants  or  brokers,  ami 
seldom  open  our  mouths  without  shutting  our  hearts.  But  this 
is  a  case  altogether  out  of  the  common  rule ;  and  Mr.  Dunscomb 
works  for  love,  and  not  for  money/' 

Had  Anna  cared  less  for  John  Wilmeter,  she  might  have  said 
something  clever  about  the  nephew's  being  in  the  same  category 
as  the  uncle ;  but  her  feelings  were  too  deeply  interested  to  suffer 
her  even  to  think  what  would  seem  to  her  profane.  After  a  mo 
ment's  pause,  therefore,  she  quietly  said — 

"  I  believe  you  have  intimated  that  Mr.  Timms  is  not  quite  so- 
disinterested  ?" 

"  Not  he  —  Miss  Monson  has  given  him  fees  amounting  to  r& 
thousand  dollars,  by  his  own  admission ;  and  the  fellow  has  had 
the  conscience  to  take  the  money.  I  have  remonstrated  about 
his  fleecing  a  friendless  woman  in  this  extravagant  manner ;  but 
he  laughs  in  my  face  for  my  pains.  Timms  has  good  points,  but 
honesty  is  not  one  of  them.  He  says  no  woman  can  be  friendless 
who  has  a  pretty  face,  and  a  pocket  full  of  money." 

"  You  can  hardly  call  a  person  unfriended  who  has  so  much 
money  at  command,  John,"  Anna  answered  with  timidity  •  but 
not  without  manifest  interest  in  the  subject.  "  A  thousand  dollars 
sounds  like  a  large  sum  to  me !" 

"  It  is  a  good  deal  of  money  for  a  fee ;  though  much  more  is 
sometimes  given.  I  dare  say  Miss  Monson  would  have  gladly 
given  the  same  to  uncle  Tom,  if  he  would  have  taken  it.  Timms 
told  me  that  she  proposed  offering  as  much  to  him  j  but  he  per- 
puaded  her  to  wait  until  the  trial  was  over." 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  201 

"And  where  does  all  this  money  come  from,  John?" 
"  I  'm  sure  I  do  not  know — I  am  not  at  all  in  Miss  MoAson's 
confidence ;  on  her  pecuniary  affairs,  at  least.  She  does  honour 
me  so  much  as  to  consult  me  about  her  trial  occasionally,  it  is 
true ;  but  to  me  she  has  never  alluded  to  money,  except  to  ask 
me  to  obtain  change  for  large  notes.  I  do  not  see  anything  so 
very  wonderful  in  a  lady's  having  money.  You,  who  are  a  sort 
of  heiress  yourself,  ought  to  know  that." 

"  I  do  not  get  money  in  thousands,  I  can  assure  you,  Jack  ; 
nor  do  I  think  that  I  have  it  to  get.  I  believe  my  whole  income 
would  not  much  more  than  meet  the  expenditure  of  this  strange 


"  Do  not  call  her  woman,  Anna ;  it  pains  me  to  hear  you  speak 
of  her  in  such  terms." 

"  I  beg  her  pardon  and  yours,  Jack ;  but  I  meant  no  disre 
spect.  We  are  all  women." 

"  I  know  it  is  foolish  to  feel  nervous  on  such  a  subject ;  but  I 
cannot  help  it.  One  connects  so  many  ideas  of  vulgarity  and 
crime,  with  prisons,  and  indictments,  and  trials,  that  we  are  apt 
to  suppose  all  who  are  accused  to  belong  to  the  commoner  classes. 
Such  is  not  the  fact  with  Miss  Monson,  I  can  assure  you.  Not 
even  Sarah — nay,  not  even  yourself,  my  dear  Anna,  can  pretend 
to  more  decided  marks  of  refinement  and  education.  I  do  not 
know  a  more  distinguished  young  woman " 

"  There,  Jack;  now  you  call  her  a  woman  yourself,"  interrupted 
Anna,  a  little  archly;  secretly  delighted  at  the  compliment  she 
had  just  heard. 

"  Young  woman  —  anybody  can  say  thatj  you  know,  without 
implying  anything  common  or  vulgar;  and  woman  too,  some 
times.  I  do  not  know  how  it  was ;  but  I  did  not  exactly  like 
the  word  as  you  happened  to  use  it.  I  believe  close  and  long 
watching  is  making  me  nervous ;  and  I  am  not  quite  as  much 
myself  as  usual." 

9* 


202  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

Anna  gave  a  very  soft  sigh,  and  that  seemed  to  afford  her 
relief,  though  it  was  scarcely  audible;  then  she  continued  the 
subject. 

"How  old  is  this  extraordinary  young  lady?"  she  demanded, 
scarce  speaking  loud  enough  to  be  heard. 

"  Old !  How  can  I  tell  ?  She  is  very  youthful  in  appearance ; 
but,  from  the  circumstance  of  her  having  so  much  money  at 
command,  I  take  it  for  granted  she  is  of  age.  The  law  now  gives 
to  every  woman  the  full  command  of  all  her  property,  even  though 
married,  after  she  become  of  age." 

"  Which  I  trust  you  find  a  very  proper  attention  to  the  rights 
of  our  sex!" 

"  I  care  very  little  about  it ;  though  Uncle  Tom  says  it  is  of  a 
piece  with  all  our  late  New  York  legislation." 

"  Mr.  Dunscomb,  like  most  elderly  persons,  has  little  taste  for 
change." 

"  It  is  not  that.  He  thinks  that  minds  of  an  ordinary  stamp 
are  running  away  with  the  conceit  that  they  are  on  the  road  of 
progress ;  and  that  most  of  our  recent  improvements,  as  they  are 
called,  are  marked  by  empiricism.  This  '  tea-cup  law/  as  he 
terms  it,  will  set  the  women  above  their  husbands,  and  create  two 
sets  of  interests  where  there  ought  to  be  but  one." 

"  Yes ;  I  am  aware  such  is  his  opinion.  He  remarked,  the 
day  he  brought  home  my  mother's  settlement  for  the  signatures, 
that  it  was  the  most  ticklish  part  of  his  profession  to  prepare  such 
papers.  I  remember  one  of  his  observations,  which  struck  me  as 
being  very  just." 

"Which  you  mean  to  repeat  to  me,  Anna?" 

"  Certainly,  John,  if  you  wish  to  hear  it,"  returned  a  gentle 
voice,  coming  from  one  unaccustomed  to  refuse  any  of  the  reason 
able  requests  of  this  particular  applicant.  "The  remark  of  Mr. 
Dunscomb  was  this  :  —  He  said  that  most  family  misunderstand 
ings  grew  out  of  money ;  and  he  thought  it  unwise  to  set  it  up 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  203 

as  a  bone  of  contention  between  man  and  wife.  Where  there  was 
so  close  a  union  in  all  other  matters,  he  thought  there  might 
safely  be  a  community  of  interests  in  this  respect.  He  saw  no 
sufficient  reason  for  altering  the  old  law,  which  had  the  great 
merit  of  having  been  tried." 

"  He  could  hardly  persuade  rich  fathers,  and  vigilant  guardians, 
who  have  the  interests  of  heiresses  to  look  after,  to  subscribe  to 
all  his  notions.  They  say  that  it  is  better  to  make  a  provision 
against  imprudence  and  misfortune,  by  settling  a  woman's  fortune 
on  herself,  in  a  country  where  speculation  tempts  so  many  to 
their  ruin." 

"  I  do  not  object  to  anything  that  may  have  an  eye  to  an  evil 
<day,  provided  it  be  done  openly  and  honestly.  But  the  income 
should  be  common  property,  and  like  all  that  belongs  to  a  family, 
should  pass  under  the  control  of  its  head," 

"  It  is  very  liberal  in  you  to  say  and  think  this,  Anna !" 

"  It  is  what  every  woman,  who  has  a  true  woman 's  heart, 
•could  wish,  and  would  do.  For  myself,  I  would  marry  no  man 
whom  I  did  not  respect  and  look  up  to  in  most  things;  and 
surely,  if  I  gave  him  my  heart  and  my  hand,  I  could  wish  to 
give  him  as  much  control  over  my  means  as  circumstances  would 
at  all  allow-  It  might  be  prudent  to  provide  against  misfortune 
by  means  of  settlements;  but  this  much  done,  I  feel  certain  it 
would  afford  me  the  greatest  delight  to  commit  all  that  I  could 
to  a  husband's  keeping." 

"  Suppose  that  husband  were  a  spendthrift,  and  wasted  your 
estate?" 

"  He  could  waste  but  the  income,  were  there  a  settlement ;  and 
I  would  rather  share  the  consequences  of  his  imprudence  with 
him,  than  sit  aloof  in  .selfish  enjoyment  of  that  in  which  he  did 
not  partake." 

All  this  sounded  very  well  in  John's  ears ;  and  he  knew  Anna 
Updyke  too  well  to  suppose  she  did  not  fully  mean  all  that  she 


<J04  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

said.     He  wondered  what  might  be  Mary  Monson's  views  on  this 
subject. 

"  It  is  possible  for  the  husband  to  partake  of  the  wife's  wealth,, 
even  when  he  does  not  command  it,"  the  young  man  resuined? 
anxious  to  hear  what  more  Anna  might  have  to  say. 

"  What !  as  a  dependant  on  her  bounty  ?  No  woman  who  re 
spects  herself  could  wish  to  see  her  husband  so  degraded ;  nay, 
no  female,  who  has  a  true  woman's  heart,  would  ever  consent  to- 
place  the  man  to  whom  she  has  given  her  hand,  in  so  false  a 
position.  It  is  for  the  woman  to  be  dependent  on  the  man,  and 
not  the  man  on  the  woman.  I  agree  fully  with  Mr,  Bunseomb,. 
when  he  says  that  t  silken  knots  are  too  delicate  to  be  rudely  un 
done  by  dollars/  The  family  in  which  the  head  has  to  ask  the 
wife  for  the  money  that  is  to  support  it,  must  soon  go  wrong ;  as 
it  is  placing  the  weaker  vessel  uppermost." 

"  You  would  make  a  capital  wife,  Anna,  if  these  are  really 
your  opinions!" 

Anna  blushed,  and  almost  repented  of  her  generous  warmth  ; 
but,  being  perfectly  sincere,  she  would  not  deny  her  sentiments. 

"  They  ought  to  be  the  opinion  of  every  wife,"  she  answered. 
"  I  could  not  endure  to  see  the  man  to  whom  I  could  wish  on  all 
occasions  to  look  up,  soliciting  the  means  on  which  we  both  sub 
sisted.  It  would  be  my  delight,  if  I  had  money  and  he  had  none, 
to  pour  all  into  his  lap,  and  then  come  and  ask  of  him  as  much 
as  was  necessary  to  my  comfort." 

"  If  he  had  the  soul  of  a  man  he  would  not  wait  to  be  asked, 
but  would  endeavour  to  anticipate  your  smallest  wants.  I  be 
lieve  you  are  right,  and  that  happiness  is  best  secured  by  confi 
dence." 

"  And  in  not  reversing  the  laws  of  nature.  Why  do  women 
vow  to  obey  and  honour  their  husbands,  if  they  are  to  retain  them 
as  dependants  ?  I  declare,  John  Wilmeter,  I  should  almost  de 
spise  the  man  who  could  eonse&t  to  live  with  me  on  any  terros 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  205 

but  those  in  which  nature,  the  church,  and  reason,  unite  in  telling 
us  he  ought  to  be  the  superior." 

"  Well,  Anna,  this  is  good,  old-fashioned,  womanly  sentiment ; 
and  I  will  confess  it  delights  me  to  hear  it  from  you.  I  am  the 
better  pleased,  because,  as  Uncle  Tom  is  always  complaining,  the 
weakness  of  the  hour  is  to  place  your  sex  above  ours,  and  to  re 
verse  all  the  ancient  rules  in  this  respect.  Let  a  woman,  now-a- 
days,  run  away  from  her  husband,  and  carry  off  the  children ;  it 
is  ten  to  one  but  some  crotchety  judge,  who  thinks  more  of  a 
character  built  up  on  gossip  than  of  deferring  properly  to  that 
which  the  laws  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  man  have  decreed,  re 
fuse  to  issue  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  restore  the  issue  to  the 
parent." 

"  I  do  not  know,  John," — Anna  hesitatingly  rejoined,  with  a 
true  woman's  instinct — "  it  would  be  so  hard  to  rob  a  mother  of 
her  children!" 

"  It  might  be  hard,  but  in  such  a  case  it  would  be  just.  I 
like  that  word  *  rob/  for  it  suits  both  parties.  To  me,  it  seems 
that  the  father  is  the  party  robbed,  when  the  wife  not  only  steals 
away  from  her  duty  to  her  husband,  but  deprives  him  of  his 
children  too." 

"  It  is  wrong,  and  I  have  heard  Mr.  Dunscomb  express  great 
indignation  at  what  he  called  the  '  soft-soapiness'  of  certain  judges 
in  cases  of  this  nature.  Still,  John,  the  world  is  apt  to  think  a 
woman  would  not  abandon  the  most  sacred  of  her  duties  without 
a  cause.  That  feeling  must  be  at  the  bottom  of  what  you  call 
the  decision,  I  believe,  of  these  judges." 

"  If  there  be  such  a  cause  as  would  justify  a  woman  in  desert 
ing  her  husband,  and  in  stealing  his  children  —  for  it  is  robbery 
after  all,  and  robbery  of  the  worst  sort,  since  it  involves  breaches 
of  faith  of  the  most  heinous  nature  —  let  that  cause  be  shown, 
that  justice  may  pronounce  between  the  parties.  Besides,  it  ia 
not  true  that  women  will  not  sometimes  forget  their  duties  with- 


206  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR, 

out  sufficient  cause.  There  are  capricious,  and  uncertain,  and 
egotistical  women,  who  follow  their  own  wayward  inclinations,  as 
well  as  selfish  men.  Some  women  love  power  intensely,  and  are 
never  satisfied  with  simply  filling  the  place  that  was  intended  for 
them  by  nature.  It  is  hard  for  such  to  submit  to  their  husbands, 
or,  indeed,  to  submit  to  any  one." 

"  It  must  be  a  strange  female,"  answered  Anna,  gently,  "  who 
cannot  suffer  the  control  of  the  man  of  her  choice,  after  quitting 
father  and  mother  for  his  sake." 

"  Different  women  have  different  sources  of  pride,  that  make 
their  husbands  very  uncomfortable,  even  when  they  remain  with 
them,  and  affect  to  discharge  their  duties.  One  will  pride  her 
self  on  family,  and  take  every  occasion  to  let  her  beloved  partner 
know  how  much  better  she  is  connected  than  he  may  happen  to 
be;  another  is  conceited,  and  fancies  herself  cleverer  than  her 
lord  and  master,  and  would  fain  have  him  take  her  advice  on  all 
occasions;  while  a  third  may  have  the  most  money,  and  delight 
in  letting  it  be  known  that  it  is  her  pocket  that  sustains  the 
household." 

"  I  did  not  know,  John,  that  you  thought  so  much  of  these 
things,"  said  Anna,  laughing;  "though  I  think  you  are  very 
right  in  your  opinions.  Pray?  which  of  the  three  evils  that  you 
have  mentioned  would  you  conceive  the  greatest  ? " 

"  The  second.  I  might  stand  family  pride ;  though  it  is  dis 
gusting  when  it  is  not  ridiculous.  Then  the  money  might  be  got 
along  with  for  its  own  sake,  provided  the  purse  were  in  my  hand ; 
but  I  really  do  not  think  I  could  live  with  a  woman  who  fancied 
she  knew  the  most." 

"  But,  in  many  things,  women  ought  to,  and  do  know  the 
most." 

"  Oh  !  as  to  accomplishments,  and  small  talk,  and  making 
preserves,  and  dancing,  and  even  poetry  and  religion  —  ye?,  I 
will  throw  in  religion — I  could  wish  my  wife  to  be  clever — very 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  207 

eicver — as  clever  as  you  are  yourself,  Anna"  —  The  fair  listener 
coloured,  though  her  eyes  brightened  at  this  unintended  but  very 
direct  compliment  —  "  Yes,  yes ;  all  that  would  do  well  enough. 
But  when  it  came  to  the  affairs  of  men,  out-of-door  concerns,  or 
politics,  or  law,  or  anything,  indeed,  that  called  for  a  masculine 
education  and  understanding,  I  could  not  endure  a  woman  who 
fancied  she  knew  the  most." 

"  I  should  think  few  wives  would  dream  of  troubling  their 
husbands  with  their  opinions  touching  the  law !" 

u  I  don't  know  that.  You  've  no  notion,  Anna,  to  what  a  pass 
conceit  can  carry  a  person ;  —  you,  who  are  so  diffident  and  shy, 
and  always  so  ready  to  yield  to  those  who  ought  to  know  best.- 
I  've  met  with  women  who,  not  content  with  arraying  their  own 
charms  in  their  own  way,  must  fancy  they  can  teach  us  how  to 
put  on  our  clothes,  tell  us  how  to  turn  over  a  wristband,  or  settle 
a  shirt-collar!" 

"  This  is  not  conceit,  John,  but  good  taste,"  cried  Anna,  now 
laughing  outright,  and  appearing  herself  again.  "  It  is  merely 
female  tact  teaching  male  awkwardness  how  to  adorn  itself.  But, 
surely,  no  woman,  John,  would  bother  herself  about  law,  let  her 
love  of  domination  be  as  strong  as  it  might." 

"  I  'm  not  so  sure  of  that.  The  only  really  complaisant  thing 
I  ever  saw  about  this  Mary  Monson" — a  cloud  again  passed 
athwart  the  bright  countenance  of  Anna — "  was  a  sort  of  strange 
predilection  for  law.  Even  Timms  has  remarked  it,  and  com 
mented  on  it  too." 

"  The  poor  woman " 

"  Do  not  use  that  word  in  speaking  of  her,  if  you  please,  Anna." 

"Well,  lady  — if  you  like  that  better " 

"  No  —  say  young  lady  —  or  Miss  Monson  —  or  Mary,  which 
has  the  most  agreeable  sound  of  all.'7 

"  Yet,  I  think  I  have  been  told  that  none  of  you  believe  she 
has  been  indicted  by  her  real  name." 


208  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  Very  true ;  but  it  makes  no  difference.  Call  her  by  that  sho 
has  assumed ;  but  do  not  call  her  by  an  alias  as  wretched  as  that 
of  'poor  woman. '" 

"  I  meant  no  slight,  I  do  assure  you,  John ;  for  I  feel  almost 
as  much  interest  in  Miss  Monson  as  you  do  yourself.  It  is  not 
surprising,  however,  that  one  in  her  situation  should  feel  an  in 
terest  in  the  law." 

"  It  is  not  this  sort  of  interest  that  I  mean.  It  has  seemed  to 
me,  once  or  twice,  that  she  dealt  with  the  difficulties  of  her  own 
case  as  if  she  took  a  pleasure  in  meeting  them  —  had  a  species 
of  professional  pleasure  in  conquering  them.  Timms  will  not  let 
me  into  his  secrets,  and  I  am  glad  of  it,  for  I  fancy  all  of  them 
would  not  bear  the  light ;  but  he  tells  me,  honestly,  that  some 
of  Miss  Monson' s  suggestions  have  been  quite  admirable  I" 

(t  Perhaps  she  has  been"  —  Anna  checked  herself  with  the 
consciousness  that  what  she  was  about  to  utter  might  appear  to 
be,  and  what  was  of  still  greater  importance  in  her  own  eyes, 
might  really  be,  ungenerous. 

"  Perhaps  what  ?     Finish  the  sentence,  I  beg  of  you." 

Anna  shook  her  head. 

"  You  intended  to  say  that  perhaps  Miss  Monson  had  some 
experience  in  the  law,  and  that  it  gave  her  a  certain  satisfaction 
to  contend  with  its  difficulties,  in  consequence  of  previous  train 
ing.  Am  I  not  right?" 

Anna  would  not  answer  in  terms ;  but  she  gave  a  little  nod  in 
assent,  colouring  scarlet. 

"  I  knew  it ;  and  I  will  be  frank  enough  to  own  that  Timms 
thinks  the  same  thing.  He  has  hinted  as  much  as  that;  but  the 
thing  is  impossible.  You  have  only  to  look  at  her,  to  see  that 
such  a  thing  is  impossible." 

Anna  Updyke  thought  that  almost  anything  of  the  sort  might 
be  possible  to  a  female  who  was  in  the  circumstances  of  the  ac 
cused  ;  this,  however,  she  would  not  say,  lest  it  might  wound 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  209 

John's  feelings,  for  which  she  had  all  the  tenderness  of  warm 
affection,  and  a  woman's  self-denial.  Had  the  case  been  reversed, 
it  is  by  no  means  probable  that  her  impulsive  companion  would 
have  manifested  the  same  forbearance  on  her  account.  John 
would  have  contended  for  victory,  and  pressed  his  adversary  with 
all  the  arguments,  facts  and  reasons  he  could  muster,  on  such  an 
occasion.  Not  so  with  the  gentler  and  more  thoughtful  young 
woman  who  was  now  walking  quietly,  and  a  little  sadly,  at  his 
side,  instinct  with  all  the  gentleness,  self-denial,  and  warm-hearted 
affection  of  her  sex. 

"  No,  it  is  worse  than  an  absurdity" — resumed  John — "it  is 

cruel,  to  imagine  anything  of  the  sort  of  Miss By  the  way, 

Anna,  do  you  know  that  a  very  singular  thing  occurred  last  even 
ing,  before  I  drove  over  to  town,  to  be  present  at  the  wedding. 
You  know  Marie  Mill  ?" 

"  Certainly  —  Marie  Moulin,  you  should  say." 
"  Well,  in  answering  one  of  her  mistress's  questions,  she  said 
<oui,  Madame.'" 

"  What  would  you  have  had  her  say  ? — '  non,  Madame  ? ' " 
"  But  why  Madame  at  all?— Why  not  Mademoiselle?" 
"  It  would  be  very  vulgar  to  say  '  Yes,  Miss/  in  English." 
"  To  be  sure  it  would ;  but  it  is  very  different  in  French.    One 
can  say  —  must  say  Mademoiselle  to  a  young  unmarried  female 
in  that  language ;  though  it  be  vulgar  to  say  Miss,  without  the 
name,  in  English.     French,  you  know,  Anna,  is  a  much  more 
precise  language  than  our  own ;  and  those  who  speak  it,  do  not 
take  the  liberties  with  it  that  we  take  with  the  English.    Madame 
always  infers  a  married  woman ;  unless,  indeed,  it  be  with  a  wo 
man  a  hundred  years  old." 

"  No  French  woman  is  ever  that,  John  —  but  it  is  odd  that 
Marie  Moulin,  who  so  well  understands  the  usages  of  her  own 
little  world,  should  have  said  Madame  to  a  demoiselle.  Have  I 
not  heard,  nevertheless,  that  Marie's  first  salutation,  when  she 


210  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

was  admitted  to  the  gaol,  was  a  simple  exclamation  of  'Made 
moiselle?'" 

"  That  is  very  true ;  for  I  heard  it  myself.  What  is  more, 
that  exclamation  was  almost  as  remarkable  as  this ;  French  ser 
vants  always  adding  the  name  under  such  circumstances,  anless 
they  are  adcJressing  their  own  particular  mistresses.  Madame, 
and  Mademoiselle,  are  appropriated  to  those  they  serve ;  while  it 
is  Mademoiselle  this,  or  Madame  that,  to  every  one  else." 

"  And  now  she  calls  her  Mademoiselle  or  Madame  !  It  only 
proves  that  too  much  importance  is  not  to  be  attached  to  Marie 
Moulin 's  sayings  and  doings." 

11 1  'm  not  so  sure  of  that.  Marie  has  been  three  years  in  this 
country,  as  we  all  know.  Now  the  young  person  that  she  left  a 
Mademoiselle  might  very  well  have  become  a  Madame  in  that 
interval  of  time.  When  they  met,  the  domestic  may  have  used 
the  old  and  familiar  term  in  her  surprise ;  or  she  may  not  have 
known  of  the  lady's  marriage.  Afterwards,  when  there  had  been 
leisure  for  explanations  between  them,  she  gave  her  mistress  her 
proper  appellation." 

"  Does  she  habitually  say  Madame  now,  in  speaking  to  this 
singular  being?" 

"  Habitually  she  is  silent.  Usually  she  remains  in  the  cell, 
when  any  one  is  with  Miss  —  or  Mrs.  Monson,  perhaps  I  ought 
to  say"  — John  used  this  last  term  with  a  strong  expression  of 
spite,  which  gave  his  companion  a  suppressed  but  infinite  delight 
— "  but  when  any  one  is  with  the  mistress,  call  her  what  you 
will,  the  maid  commonly  remains  in  the  dungeon  or  cell.  Owing 
to  this,  I  have  never  been  in  the  way  of  hearing  the  last  address 
the  first,  except  on  the  two  occasions  named.  I  confess  I  begin 
to  think " 

"What,  John? 

"  Why,  that  our  Miss  Monson  may  turn  out  to  be  a  married 
woman,  after  alL" 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  211 

"  She  is  very  young,  is  she  not  ?  Almost  too  young  to  be  a 
wife?" 

"  Not  at  all !  What  do  you  call  too  young  ?  She  is  between 
twenty  and  twenty-two  or  three.  She  may  even  be  twenty-five 
or  six." 

Anna  sighed,  though  almost  imperceptibly  to  herself;  for  these 
were  ages  that  well  suited  her  companion,  though  the  youngest 
exceeded  her  own  by  a  twelvemonth.  Little  more,  however,  was 
said  on  the  subject  at  that  interview. 

It  is  one  of  the  singular  effects  of  the  passion  of  love,  more 
especially  with  the  generous-minded  and  just  of  the  female  sex, 
that  a  lively  interest  is  often  awakened  in  behalf  of  a  successful 
or  favoured  rival.  Such  was  now  the  fact  as  regards  the  feeling 
that  Anna  Updyke  began  to  entertain  towards  Mary  Monson. 
The  critical  condition  of  the  lady  would  of  itself  excite  interest 
where  it  failed  to  produce  distrust;  but,  the  circumstance  that 
John  Wilmeter  saw  so  much  to  admire  in  this  unknown  female, 
if  he  did  not  actually  love  her,  gave  her  an  importance  in  the 
eyes  of  Anna  that  at  once  elevated  her  into  an  object  of  the 
highest  interest.  She  was  seized  with  the  liveliest  desire  to  see 
the  accused,  and  began  seriously  to  reflect  on  the  possibility  of 
effecting  such  an  end.  No  vulgar  curiosity  was  mingled  with 
this  new-born  purpose ;  but,  in  addition  to  the  motives  that  were 
connected  with  John's  state  of  mind,  there  was  a  benevolent  and 
truly  feminine  wish,  on  the  part  of  Anna,  to  be  of  service  to  one 
of  her  own  sex,  so  cruelly  placed,  and  cut  off,  as  it  would  seem, 
from  all  communication  with  those  who  should  be  her  natural 
protectors  and  advisers. 

Anna  Updyke  gathered,  through  that  which  had  fallen  from 
Wilmeter  and  his  sister,  that  the  intercourse  between  the  former 
and  his  interesting  client  had  been  of  the  most  reserved  character ; 
therein  showing  a  discretion  and  self-respect  on  the  part  of  the 
prisoner,  that  spoke  well  for  her  education  and  delicacy.  How 


212  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

such  a  woman  came  to  be  in  the  extraordinary  position  in -which 
she  was  placed,  was  of  course  as  much  a  mystery  to  her  as  to  all 
others ;  though,  like  every  one  else  who  knew  aught  of  the  case, 
she  indulged  in  conjectures  of  her  own  on  the  subject.  Being 
of  a  particularly  natural  and  frank  disposition,  without  a  particle 
of  any  ungenerous  or  detracting  quality,  and  filled  with  woman's 
kindness  in  her  very  soul,  this  noble-minded  young  woman  began 
now  to  feel  far  more  than  an  idle  curiosity  in  behalf  of  her  who 
had  so  lately  caused  herself  so  much  pain,  not  to  say  bitterness 
of  anguish.  All  was  forgotten  in  pity  for  the  miserable  condition 
of  the  unconscious  offender;  unconscious,  for  Anna  was  sufficiently 
clear-sighted  and  just  to  see  and  to  admit  that,  if  John  had  been 
led  astray  by  the  charms  and  sufferings  of  this  stranger,  the  fact 
could  not  rightfully  be  imputed  to  the  last,  as  a  fault.  Every 
statement  of  John's  went  to  confirm  this  act  of  justice  to  the 
stranger. 

Then,  the  unaccountable  silence  of  Marie  Moulin  doubled  the 
mystery  and  greatly  increased  the  interest  of  the  whole  affair. 
This  woman  had  gone  to  Biberry  pledged  to  communicate  to 
Sarah  all  she  knew  or  might  learn,  touching  the  accused;  and 
well  did  Anna  know  that  her  friend  would  make  her  the  re 
pository  of  her  own  information,  on  this  as  well  as  on  other 
subjects ;  but  a  most  unaccountable  silence  governed  the  course 
of  the  domestic,  as  well  as  that  of  her  strange  mistress.  It  really 
seemed  that,  in  passing  the  principal  door  of  the  gaol,  Marie 
Moulin  had  buried  herself  in  a  convent,  where  all  communication 
with  the  outer  world  was  forbidden.  Three  several  letters  from 
Sarah  had  John  handed  in  at  the  grate,  certain  that  they  must 
have  reached  the  hands  of  the  Swiss;  but  no  answer  had  been 
received.  All  attempts  to  speak  to  Marie  were  quietly,  but  most 
ingeniously  evaded,  by  the  tact  and  readiness  of  the  prisoner; 
and  the  hope  of  obtaining  information  from  that  source  was 
abandoned  by  Sarah,  who  was  too  proud  to  solicit  a  servant  for 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  213 

that  which  the  last  was  reluctant  to  communicate.  With  Anna 
the  feeling  was  different.  She  had  no  curiosity  on  the  subject, 
separated  from  a  most  generous  and  womanly  concern  in  the 
prisoner's  forlorn  state;  and  she  thought  far  less  of  Marie 
Moulin's  disrespect  and  forgetfulness  of  her  word,  than  of 
Monson's  desolation  and  approaching  trial. 


CHAPTER  Xfll. 

Was  it  for  this  we  sent  out 
Liberty's  cry  from  our  shore  ? 
Was  it  for  this  that  her  shout 
Thrill' d  to  the  world's  very  core? 

Moore's  National  Airs. 

THE  third  day  after  the  interviews  just  related,  the  whole  party 
left  Rattletrap  for  Timbully,  where  their  arrival  was  expected  by 
the  bride  and  bridegroom,  if  such  terms  can  be  applied  to  a  wo 
man  of  forty-five  and  a  man  of  sixty.  The  Duke's  county  circuit 
and  oyer  and  terminer  were  about  to  be  held,  and  it  was  believed 
that  Mary  Monson  was  to  be  tried.  By  this  time  so  lively  an 
interest  prevailed  among  the  ladies  of  the  McBrain  and  Dunscomb 
connections  in  behalf  of  the  accused,  that  they  had  all  come  to  a 
determination  to  be  present  in  court.  Curiosity  was  not  so  much 
at  the  bottom  of  this  movement  as  womanly  kindness  and  sym 
pathy.  There  seemed  a  bitterness  of  misery  in  the  condition  of 
Mary  Monson,  that  appealed  directly  to  the  heart ;  and  that  silent 
but  eloquent  appeal  was  answered,  as  has  just  been  stated,  gener 
ously  and  with  warmth  by  the  whole  party  from  town.  With 
Anna  Updyke  the  feeling  went  materially  farther  than  with  any 
of  her  friends.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  her  interest  in  John 
increased  that  which  she  felt  for  his  mysterious  client ;  and  her 
feelings  became  enlisted  in  the  stranger's  behalf,  so  much  the 
more,  in  consequence  of  this  triangular  sort  of  passion. 

The  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  party  crossed  the  country 
from  Rattletrap  to  Timbully,  Timms  arrived  at  the  latter  place. 

(214) 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        215 

He  was  expected,  and  was  soon  after  closeted  with  the  senior 
counsel  in  the  pending  and  most  important  cause. 

"  Does  the  District  Attorney  intend  to  move  for  the  trial?" 
demanded  Dunscomb,  the  instant  the  two  were  alone. 

"  He  tells  me  he  does,  sir ;  and  that  early  in  the  week,  too. 
It  is  my  opinion  we  should  go  for  postponement.  "We  are  hardly 
ready,  while  the  State  is  too  much  so." 

"  I  do  not  comprehend  this,  Timms.  The  law-officers  of  the 
public  would  hardly  undertake  to  run  down  a  victim,  and  she  a 
solitary  and  unprotected  woman ! " 

"That's  not  it.  The  law-officers  of  the  State  don't  care  a 
straw  whether  Mary  Monson  is  found  guilty  or  is  acquitted.  That 
is,  they  care  nothing  about  it  at  present.  The  case  may  be  different 
when  they  are  warmed  up  by  a  trial  and  opposition.  Our  danger 
comes  from  Jesse  Davis,  who  is  a  nephew  of  Peter  Goodwin, 
his  next  of  kin  and  heir,  and  who  thinks  a  great  deal  of  money 
was  hoarded  by  the  old  people  ]  much  more  than  the  stocking 
ever  held  or  could  hold,  and  who  has  taken  it  into  his  wise  head 
that  the  prisoner  has  laid  hands  on  this  treasure,  and  is  carrying 
on  her  defence  with  his  cash.  This  has  roused  him  completely, 
and  he  has  retained  two  of  the  sharpest  counsel  on  our  circuit, 
who  are  beginning  to  work  as  if  the  bargain  has  been  clenched  in 
the  hard  metal.  Williams  has  given  me  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
already.  I  know  him ;  he  will  not  work  without  pay ;  but  pay 
him  liberally,  and  he  is  up  to  anything." 

"  Ay,  you  are  diamond  cut  diamond,  Timms — outsiders  in  the 
profession.  You  understand  that  I  work  only  in  the  open  court, 
and  will  know  nothing  of  this  out-door  management." 

"  We  do  not  mean  to  let  you  know  anything  about  it,  'Squire," 
returned  Timms,  drily.  "Each  man  to  his  own  manner  of 
getting  along.  I  ought  to  tell  you,  however,  it  has  got  out  that 
you  are  working  without  a  fie,  while  I  am  paid  in  the  most  liberal 
manner." 


216  THE    WAYS   OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  I  am  sorry  for  that.  There  is  no  great  harm  in  the  thing 
itself;  but  I  dislike  the  parade  of  seeming  to  be  unusually  gener 
ous.  I  do  not  remember  to  have  spoken  of  this  circumstance 
where  it  would  be  likely  to  be  repeated ;  and  I  beg  you  will  be 
equally  discreet." 

"  The  fact  has  not  come  from  me,  I  can  assure  you,  sir.  It 
puts  me  in  too  awkward  a  position  to  delight  me ;  and  I  make  it 
a  point  to  say  as  little  as  possible  of  what  is  disagreeable.  I  do 
not  relish  the  idea  of  being  thought  selfish  by  my  future  consti 
tuents.  Giniros'ty  is  my  cue  before  them.  But  they  say  you 
work  for  love,  sir." 

"  Love  ! "  answered  Dunscomb,  quickly — "  Love  of  what  ? — 
or  of  whom?" 

"  Of  your  client  —  that 's  the  story  now.  It  is  said  that  you 
admire  Miss  Monson;  that  she  is  young,  and  handsome,  and 
rich;  and  she  is  to  marry  you,  if  acquitted.  If  found  guilty 
and  hanged,  the  bargain  is  off,  of  course.  You  may  look  dis 
pleased,  'Squire;  but  I  give  you  my  word  such  is  the  ru 
mour." 

Dunscomb  was  extremely  vexed;  but  he  was  too  proud  to 
make  any  answer.  He  knew  that  he  had  done  that  which,  among 
the  mass  of  this  nation,  is  a  very  capital  mistake,  in  not  placing 
before  its  observation  an  intelligible  motive  —  one  on  the  level 
of  the  popular  mind  —  to  prevent  these  freaks  of  the  fancy  deal 
ing  with  his  affairs.  It  is  true,  that  the  natural  supposition  would 
be  that  he  worked  for  his  fee,  as  did  Timms,  had  not  the  contrary 
got  out;  when  he  became  subject  to  all  the  crude  conjectures  of 
those  who  ever  look  for  the  worst  motives  for  everything.  Had 
he  been  what  is  termed  a  favourite  public  servant,  the  very  reverse 
would  have  been  the  case,  and  there  was  little  that  he  might  not 
have  done  with  impunity;  but,  having  no  such  claims  on  the 
minds  of  the  mass,  he  came  under  the  common  law  which  some 
what  distinguishes  their  control.  Too  much  disgusted,  however, 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  21.7 

to  continue  this  branch  of  the  subject,  the  worthy  counsellor  at 
once  adverted  to  another. 

"  Have  you  looked  over  the  list  of  the  jurors,  Timms?"  he 
demanded,  continuing  to  sort  his  papers. 

"  That  I  never  fail  to  do,  sir,  the  first  thing.  It 's  my  brief, 
you  know,  'Squire  Dunscomb.  All  safe  York  law,  now-a-days, 
is  to  be  found  in  that  learned  body ;  especially  in  criminal  cases. 
There  is  but  one  sort  of  suit  in  which  the  jury  counts  for  nothing, 
and  might  as  well  be  dispensed  with." 

"Which  is ?" 

"  An  ejectment  cause.  It 's  not  one  time  in  ten  that  they  un 
derstand  anything  about  the  matter,  or  care  anything  about  it ; 
and  the  court  usually  leads  in  those  actions  —  but  our  Duke's 
county  juries  are  beginning  to  understand  their  powers  in  all 
others." 

"What  do  you  make  of  the  list?" 

"  It 's  what  I  call  reasonable,  'Squire.  There  are  two  men  on 
it  who  would  not  hang  Cain,  were  he  indicted  for  the  murder  of 
Abel." 

"  Quakers,  of  course  ?  " 

"  Not  they.  The  time  was  when  we  were  reduced  to  the 
'thee's'  and  the  'thou's'  for  this  sort  of  support;  but  philan 
thropy  is  abroad,  sir,  covering  the  land.  Talk  of  the  school 
master! —  Why,  'Squire,  a  new  philanthropical  idee  will  go  two 
feet  to  the  schoolmaster's  one.  Pro-nigger,  anti-gallows,  eternal 
peace,  woman's  rights,  the  people's  power,  and  anything  of  that 
sort,  sweeps  like  a  tornado  through  the  land.  Get  a  juror  who 
has  just  come  into  the  anti-gallows  notion,  and  I  would  defy  the 
State  to  hang  a  body-snatcher  who  lived  by  murdering  his  sub 
jects." 

"And  you  count  on  two  of  these  partisans  for  our  case?" 

"  Lord  no,  sir.  The  District  Attorney  himself  knows  them 
both;  and  Davis's  counsel  have  been  studying  that  list  for  the 

10 


218  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

last  week,  as  if  it  were  Blackstone  in  the  hands  of  a  new  beginner, 
I  can  tell  you,  'Squire  Dimscomb,  that  the  jury-list  is  a  most  iin* 
portant  part  of  a  case  out  here  in  the  country  1" 

"  I  am  much  afraid  it  is,  Timnis ;  though  I  never  examined 
one  in  my  life." 

"  I  can  believe  you,  sir,  from  what  I  have  seen  of  your  prao- 
tice.  But  principles  and  facts  won't  answer  in  an  age  of  the  world 
when  men  are  ruled  by  talk  and  prejudice.  There  is  not  a  case 
of  any  magnitude  tried,  now-a-days,  without  paying  proper  atten 
tion  to  the  jury.  We  arc  pretty  well  off,  on  the  whole ;  and  I 
am  tolerably  sanguine  of  a  disagreement,  though  I  fear  an  ac 
quittal  is  quite  out  of  the  question." 

"  You  rely  on  one  or  two  particularly  intelligent  and  disinter 
ested  men,  ha!  Timms  ?" 

"  I  rely  on  five  or  six  particularly  ignorant  and  heated  partisans, 
on  the  contrary; — men  who  have  been  reading  about  the  abolish 
ing  of  capita]  punishments,  and  who  in  gin'ral,  because  they  've 
got  hold  of  some  notions  that  have  been  worn  out  as  far  back  as 
the  times  of  the  Caesars,  fancy  themselves  philosophers  and  the 
children  of  progress.  The  country  is  getting  to  be  full  of  what  I 
call  donkeys  and  racers ;  the  donkey  is  obstinate,  and  backs  going 
up  hill ;  while  the  racers  will  not  only  break  their  own  necks, 
but  those  of  their  riders  too,  unless  they  hold  up  long  before  they 
reach  their  goal." 

"  I  did  not  know,  Timms,  that  you  think  so  much  on  such 
subjects.  To  me,  you  have  always  appeared  to  be  a  purely  work 
ing-man  —  no  theorist." 

"  It  is  precisely  because  I  am  a  man  of  action,  and  live  in  the 
world,  and  see  things  as  they  were  meant  to  be  seen,  that  I  laugh 
at  your  theorists.  Why,  sir,  this  country,  in  my  judgment,  for 
the  time  being,  could  much  better  get  along  without  preaching, 
than  without  hanging.  I  don't  say  always ;  for  there  is  no  telling 
yet  what  is  to  be  the  upshot  of  preaching.  It  may  turn  out  aa 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  219 

many  think ;  in  which  case  human  natur'  will  undergo  a  change 
that  will  pretty  much  destroy  our  business.  Such  a  state  of  things 
would  be  worse  for  the  bar,  'Squire,  than  the  Code,  or  the  last 
fee-bill." 

"  I  'm  not  so  sure  of  that,  Timms ;  there  are  few  things  worse 
than  this  infernal  Code." 

"  Well,  to  my  taste,  the  fee-bill  is  the  most  disagreeable  of  the 
two.  A  man  can  stand  any  sort  of  law,  and  any  sort  of  practice ; 
but  he  can't  stand  any  sort  of  pay.  I  hear  the  circuit  is  to  be 
held  by  one  of  the  new  judges — a  people's  man,  altogether." 

"  You  mean  by  that,  I  suppose,  Timms,  one  of  those  who  did 
not  hold  office  under  the  old  system  ?  It  is  said  that  the  new 
broom  sweeps  clean  —  it  is  fortunate  ours  has  not  brushed  away 
all  the  old  incumbents." 

"  No,  that  is  to  come ;  and  come  it  will,  as  sure  as  the  sun 
rises.  We  must  have  rotation  on  the  bench,  as  well  as  in  all 
other  matters.  You  see,  'Squire,  rotation  is  a  sort  of  claim  with 
many  men,  who  have  no  other.  They  fancy  the  earth  to  have 
been  created  on  a  sort  of  Jim  Crow  principle,  because  it  turns 
round." 

"  That  is  it ;  and  it  explains  the  clamour  that  is  made  about 
it.  But  to  return  to  this  jury,  Timms;  on  the  whole,  you  like 
it,  I  should  infer?" 

"  Not  too  well,  by  any  means.  There  are  six  or  eight  names 
on  the  list  that  I  'm  always  glad  to  see ;  for  they  belong  to  men 
who  are  friendly  to  me 

"  Good  God,  man  —  it  cannot  be  possible  that  you  count  on 
such  assistants  in  a  trial  for  a  human  life  !" 

"  Not  count  on  it,  'Squire  Dunscomb  !  I  count  on  it  from  an 
action  of  trespass  on  the  case,  to  this  indictment  —  count  on  it, 
quite  as  much,  and  a  good  deal  more  rationally,  than  you  count 
on  your  law  and  evidence.  Didn't  I  carry  that  heavy  case  for 
the  railroad  company  on  that  principle  altogether  ?  The  law  waa 


220  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

dead  against  us  they  say,  and  the  facts  were  against  us ;  but  the 
verdict  was  in  our  favour.  That  Js  what  I  call  practising  law  I" 

"  Yes ;  I  remember  to  have  heard  of  that  case,  and  it  was 
always  a  wonder  with  the  bar  how  you  got  along  with  it.  Had 
it  been  a  verdict  against  a  corporation,  no  one  would  have  thought 
anything  of  it  —  but  to  carry  a  bad  case  for  a  company,  now-a- 
days,  is  almost  an  unheard-of  thing." 

"  You  are  quite  right,  sir.  I  can  beat  any  railroad  in  the 
State,  with  a  jury  of  a  neighbourhood,  let  the  question  or  facts 
be  what  they  may ;  but,  in  this  instance,  I  beat  the  neighbour- 
hood,  and  all  through  the  faith  the  jury  had  in  me.  It 's  a  blessed 
institution,  this  of  the  jury,  ' Squire  Dunscomb ! —  no  doubt  it 
makes  us  the  great,  glorious,  and  free  people  that  we  are  !" 

"  If  the  bench  continue  to  lose  its  influence  as  it  has  done,  the 
next  twenty  years  will  see  it  a  curse  of  the  worst  character.  It 
is  now  little  more  than  a  popular  cabal  in  all  cases  in  the  least 
calculated  to  awaken  popular  feeling  or  prejudice." 

"  There  's  the  rub  in  this  capital  case  of  ours.  Mary  Monson 
has  neglected  popularity  altogether ;  and  she  is  likely  to  suffer 
for  it." 

"  Popularity !"  exclaimed  Dunscomb,  in  a  tone  of  horror  — 
"  and  this  in  a  matter  of  life  and  death  !  "What  are  we  coining 
to  in  the  law,  as  well  as  in  politics  !  No  public  man  is  to  be 
found  of  sufficient  moral  courage,  or  intellectual  force,  to  stem 
this  torrent  j  which  is  sweeping  away  everything  before  it.  But 
in  what  has  our  client  failed,  Timms?" 

"  In  almost  everything  connected  with  this  one  great  point ; 
and  what  vexes  me  is  her  wonderful  power  of  pleasing,  which  is 
completely  thrown  away.  '  Squire  Dunscomb,  I  would  carry  this 
county  for  Free  Sile  or  ag'in  it,  with  that  lady  to  back  me,  as  a 
wife." 

"What,  if  she  should  refuse  to  resort  to  popular  airs  and 
graces  ?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOJR.  221 

"  I  mean,  of  course,  she  aiding  and  abetting.  I  would  giva 
the  world,  now,  could  we  get  the  judge  into  her  company  for 
half  an  hour.  It  would  make  a  friend  of  him ;  and  it  is  still 
something  to  have  a  friend  in  the  judge  in  a  criminal  case." 

"  You  may  well  say  '  still,'  Timms ;  how  much  longer  it  will 
be  so,  is  another  matter.  Under  the  old  system  it  would  be 
hopeless  to  expect  so  much  complaisance  in  a  judge ;  but  I  will 
not  take  it  on  myself  to  say  what  a  people's  judge  will  not  do." 

"  If  I  thought  the  thing  could  be  managed,  by  George  I  would 
attempt  it !  The  grand  jurors  visit  the  gaols,  and  why  not  the 
judges  ?  What  do  you  think,  sir,  of  an  anonymous  letter  hinting 
to  his  honour  that  a  visit  to  Mrs.  Gott  —  who  is  an  excellent 
creature  in  her  way  —  might  serve  the  ends  of  justice  !" 

"  As  I  think  of  all  underhanded  movements  and  trickery.  No, 
no,  Timms ;  you  had  better  let  our  client  remain  unpopular,  than 
undertake  anything  of  this  nature." 

"  Perhaps  you  are  right,  sir.  Unpopular  she  is,  and  will  be, 
as  long  as  she  pursues  her  present  course ;  whereas  she  might 
carry  all  classes  of  men  with  her.  For  my  part,  ; Squire  Duns- 
comb,  I  've  found  this  young  lady"  —  here  Timms  paused,  hem 
med,  and  concluded  by  looking  a  little  foolish  —  a  character  of 
countenance  by  no  means  common  with  one  of  his  shrewdness 
and  sagacity. 

"So,  so,  Master  Timms,"  said  the  senior  counsel,  regarding 
the  junior  with  a  sort  of  sneer  —  "you  are  as  great  a  fool  as  my 
nephew,  Jack  Wilrneter;  and  have  fallen  in  love  with  a  pretty 
face,  in  spite  of  the  grand  jury  and  the  gallows  !" 

Timms  gave  a  gulp,  seemed  to  catch  his  breath,  and  regained 
enough  of  his  self-command  to  be  able  to  answer. 

"  I  'm  in  hopes  that  Mr.  Wilmeter  will  think  better  of  this, 
sir,"  he  said,  "  and  turn  his  views  to  a  quarter  where  they  will 
be  particularly  acceptable.  It  would  hardly  do  for  a  young  gen 
tleman  of  his  expectations  to  take  a  wife  out  of  a  gaol." 


222  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  Enough  of  this  foolery,  Timms,  and  come  to  the  point.  Your 
remarks  about  popularity  may  have  some  sense  in  them,  if  matters 
have  been  pushed  too  far  in  a  contrary  direction.  Of  what  do  you 
complain  ?" 

"  In  the  first  place,  she  will  not  show  herself  at  the  windows ; 
and  that  offends  a  great  many  persons,  who  think  it  proud  and 
aristocratic  in  her  not  to  act  as  other  criminals  act.  Then,  she 
has  made  a  capital  mistake  with  a  leading  reporter,  who  sent  in 
his  name,  and  desired  an  interview ;  which  she  declined  granting. 
She  will  hear  from  t"hat  man,  depend  on  it,  sir." 

"  I  shall  look  to  him,  then  —  for,  though  this  class  of  men  is 
fast  putting  the  law  under  foot,  it  may  be  made  to  turn  on  them, 
by  one  who  understands  it,  and  has  the  courage  to  use  it.  I  shall 
not  allow  the  rights  of  Mary  Monson  to  be  invaded  by  such  a 
fungus  of  letters/' 

"  Fungus  of  letters  !  Ahem — if  it  was  anybody  but  yourself, 
'Squire,  that  I  was  talking  to,  I  might  remind  you  that  these 
funguses  flourish  on  the  dunghill  of  the  common  mind." 

"  No  matter ;  the  law  can  be  made  to  touch  them,  when  in 
good  hands;  and  mine  have  now  some  experience.  Has  this 
reporter  resented  the  refusal  of  the  prisoner  to  see  him  ?" 

"  He  is  squinting  that  way,  and  has  got  himself  sent  to  Biberry 
by  two  or  three  journals,  to  report  the  progress  of  the  trial.  I 
know  the  man ;  he  is  vindictive,  impudent,  and  always  uses  his 
craft  to  indulge  his  resentments. " 

"  Ay,  many  of  those  gentry  are  up  to  that.  Is  it  not  surprising, 
Timms,  that  in  a  country  for  ever  boasting  of  its  freedom,  men 
do  not  see  how  much  abuse  there  is  of  a  very  important  interest, 
in  suffering  these  irresponsible  tyrants  to  ride  rough-shod  over 
the  community?" 

"  Lord,  'Squire,  it  is  not  with  the  reporters  only,  that  abuses 
are  to  be  found.  I  was  present,  the  other  day,  at  a  conversation 
between  a  judge  and  a  great  town  lawyer,  when  the  last  deplored 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  223 

fche  state  of  the  juries!  'What  would  you  have?'  says  his 
Honour;  'angels  sent  down  from  Heaven  to  fill  the  jury-boxes?' 
Waal"  —  Timins  never  could  get  over  the  defects  of  his  early 
associations  —  "Waal,  'Squire/'  he  continued,  with  a  shrewd 
leer  of  the  eyes,  "  I  thought  a  few  saints  might  be  squeezed  in 
between  the  lowest  angel  in  Heaven  and  the  average  of  our 
Duke's  county  pannels.  This  is  a  great  fashion  of  talking  that  is 
growing  up  among  us  to  meet  an  objection  by  crying  out,  { men 
are  not  angels;'  as  if  some  men  are  not  better  than  others." 

"  The  institutions  clearly  maintain  that  some  men  are  better 
than  others,  Tiffing  J" 

"  That 's  news  to  me,  I  will  own.  I  thought  the  institutions 
declared  all  men  alike  —  that  is,  all  white  men ;  I  know  that  the 
niggers  are  non-suited." 

"  They  are  unsuited,  at  least,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  in 
stitutions.  If  all  men  are  supposed  to  be  alike,  what  use  is  there 
in  the  elections  ?  Why  not  draw  lots  for  office,  as  we  draw  lots 
for  juries  ?  Choice  infers  inequalities,  or  the  practice  is  an  absur 
dity.  But  here  comes  McBrain,  with  a  face  so  full  of  meaning, 
he  must  have  something  to  tell  us." 

Sure  enough,  the  bridegroom-physician  came  into  the  room  at 
that  instant ;  and  without  circumlocution  he  entered  at  once  on 
the  topic  that  was  then  uppermost  in  his  mind.  It  was  the  custom 
of  the  neighbourhood  to  profit  by  the  visits  of  this  able  practi 
tioner  to  his  country  place,  by  calling  on  him  for  advice  in  such 
difficult  cases  as  existed  anywhere  in  the  vicinity  of  Timbully. 
Even  his  recent  marriage  did  not  entirely  protect  him  from  these 
appeals,  which  brought  so  little  pecuniary  advantage  as  to  be 
gratuitous;  and  he  had  passed  much  of  the  last  two  days  in 
making  professional  visits  in  a  circle  around  his  residence  that 
included  Biberry.  Such  were  the  means  by  which  he  had  ob 
tained  the  information  that  now  escaped  from  him,  as  it  mighl 
l>e,  involuntarily. 


224  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  I  have  never  known  so  excited  a  state  of  the  public  mind," 
he  cried,  "as  now  exists  all  around  Biberry,  on  the  subject  of 
your  client,  Tom,  and  this  approaching  trial.  Go  where  I  may., 
see  whom  I  will,  let  the  disease  be  as  serious  as  possible,  all, 
patients,  parents,  friends  and  nurses,  commence  business  with 
asking  me  what  I  think  of  Mary  Monson,  and  of  her  guilt  or 
innocence." 

"  That 's  because  you  are  married,  Ned,"  —  Dunscomb  coolly 
answered  —  "  Now,  no  one  thinks  of  putting  such  a  question  to 
me.  I  see  lots  of  people,  as  well  as  yourself;  but  not  a  soul  has 
asked  me  whether  I  thought  Mary  Monson  guilty  or  innocent." 

"  Poh  !  You  are  her  counsel,  and  no  one  could  take  the  liberty. 
I  dare  say  that  even  Mr.  Timms,  here,  your  associate,  has  never 
compared  notes  with  you  on  that  particular  point." 

Timms  was  clearly  not  quite  himself;  and  he  did  not  look  as 
shrewd  as  he  once  would  have  done  at  such  a  remark.  He  kept 
in  the  back-ground,  and  was  content  to  listen. 

"  I  do  suppose  association  with  a  brother  in  the  law,  and  in  a 
case  of  life  and  death,  is  something  like  matrimony,  Dr.  MeBrain. 
A  good  deal  must  be  taken  for  granted,  and  not  a  little  on  credit, 
As  a  man  is  bound  to  believe  his  wife  the  most  excellent,  virtuous, 
most  amiable  and  best  creature  on  earth,  so  is  a  counsel  bound  to 
consider  his  client  innocent.  The  relation,  in  each  case,  is  confi 
dential,  however;  and  I  shall  not  pry  into  your  secrets,  any  more 
than  I  shall  betray  one  of  my  own." 

"  I  asked  for  none,  and  wish  none ;  but  one  may  express  sur 
prise  at  the  intense  degree  of  excitement  that  prevails  all  through 
Duke's,  and  even  in  the  adjacent  counties/' 

"  The  murder  of  a  man  and  his  wife  in  cold  blood,  accompa 
nied  by  robbery  and  arson,  are  enough  to  arouse  the  community. 
In  this  particular  ease  the  feeling  of  interest  is  increased,  I  make 
no  doubt,  by  the  extraordinary  character,  as  well  as  by  the  singular 
mystery,  of  the  party  accused.  I  have  had  many  clients,  Ned, 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  225 

but  never  one  like  this  before ;  as  you  have  had  many  wives,  but 
no  one  so  remarkable  as  the  present  Mrs.  McBrain." 

"Your  time  will  come  yet,  Master  Dunscomb — recollect  I 
have  always  prognosticated  that." 

"  You  forget  that  I  am  approaching  sixty.  A  man's  heart  is 
as  hard  and  dry  as  a  bill  in  chancery  at  that  age  —  but,  I  beg 
your  pardon,  Ned;  you  are  an  exception/' 

"  I  certainly  believe  that  a  man  can  have  affections,  even  at 
four-score — and  what  is  more,  I  believe  that  when  the  reason  and 
judgment  come  in  aid  of  the  passions " 

Dunscomb  laughed  outright ;  nay,  he  even  gave  a  little  shout, 
his  bachelor  habits  having  rendered  him  more  exuberant  in 
manner  than  might  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 

"Passions!"  he  cried,  rubbing  his  hands,  and  looking  round 
for  Timms,  that  he  might  have  some  one  to  share  in  what  he 
regarded  as  a  capital  joke.  "  The  passions  of  a  fellow  of  three 
score  !  Ned,  you  do  not  flatter  yourself  that  you  have  been 
marrying  the  Widow  Updyke  in  consequence  of  any  passion  you 
feel  for  her?" 

"  I  do,  indeed,"  returned  the  Doctor,  with  spirit ;  mustering 
resolution  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country — "Let  me 
tell  you,  Tom  Dunscomb,  that  a  warm-hearted  fellow  can  love  a 
woman  dearly,  long  after  the  age  you  have  mentioned  —  that  is, 
provided  he  has  not  let  all  feeling  die  within  him,  for  want  of 
watering  a  plant  that  is  the  most  precious  boon  of  a  most  gracious 
Providence." 

"  Ay,  if  he  begin  at  twenty,  and  keep  even  pace  with  his  be 
loved  down  the  descent  of  time." 

"  That  may  all  be  true ;  but,  if  it  has  been  his  misfortune  to 
lose  one  partner,  a  second " 

"  And  a  third,  Ned,  a  third  —  why  not  foot  the  bill  at  once, 
as  they  say  in  the  market?" 

"Well,  a  third  too  if  circumstances  make  that  demand  on 
10* 


226  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

him.  Anything  is  better  than  leaving  the  affections  to  stagnate 
for  want  of  cultivation." 

"  Adani  in  Paradise,  by  Jove  !  —  But,  I  '11  not  reproach  you 
again,  since  you  have  got  so  gentle  and  kind  a  creature,  and  one 
who  is  twenty  years  your  junior " 

"  Only  eighteen,  if  you  please,  Mr.  Dunscomb." 

"  Now,  I  should  be  glad  to  know  whether  you  have  added  those 
two  years  to  the  bride's  age,  or  subtracted  them  from  that  of 
the  bridegroom !  I  suppose  the  last,  however,  as  a  matter  of 
course." 

"  I  do  not  well  see  how  you  can  suppose  any  such  thing,  know 
ing  my  age  as  well  as  you  do.  Mrs.  McBrain  is  forty-two,  an 
age  when  a  woman  can  be  as  loveable  as  at  nineteen  —  more  so, 
if  her  admirer  happens  to  be  a  man  of  sense." 

"  And  sixty-two.  Well,  Ned,  you  are  incorrigible ;  and,  for 
the  sake  of  the  excellent  woman  who  has  consented  to  have  you, 
I  only  hope  this  will  be  the  last  exhibition  of  your  weakness. 
So  they  talk  a  good  deal  of  Mary  Monson,  up  and  down  the 
country,  do  they  ?" 

"  Of  little  else,  I  can  assure  you.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the  tide 
seems  to  be  setting  strongly  against  her/' 

"  That  is  bad  news;  as  few  jurors,  now-a-days,  are  superior  to 
such  an  influence.  "What  is  said,  in  particular,  Dr.  McBrain  ? — 
In  the  way  of  facts,  I  mean?" 

"  One  report  is  that  the  accused  is  full  of  money ;  and  that  a 
good  deal  of  that  which  she  is  scattering  broad-cast  has  been 
seen  by  different  persons,  at  different  times,  in  the  possession  of 
the  deceased  Mrs.  Goodwin." 

"  Let  them  retail  that  lie,  far  and  near,  'Squire,  and  we  '11  turn 
it  to  good  account,"  said  Timms,  taking  out  his  note-book,  and 
writing  down  what  he  had  just  heard.  "  I  have  reason  to  think 
that  every  dollar  Miss  Monson  has  uttered  since  her  confine- 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  227 

"  Imprisonment  would  be  a  better  word,  Mr.  Timrns,"  inter 
rupted  the  Doctor. 

"I  see  BO  great  difference,"  replied  the  literal  attorney  — 
41  but  imprisonment,  if  you  prefer  it.  I  have  reason  to  think  that 
every  dollar  Mary  Monson  has  put  in  circulation  since  she  entered 
the  gaol  at  Biberry,  has  come  from  either  young  Mr.  Wilrneter 
or  myself,  in  exchange  for  hundred-dollar  notes  —  and,  in  one  in 
stance,  for  a  note  of  five  hundred  dollars.  She  is  well  off,  I  can 
tell  you,  gentlemen ;  and  if  she  is  to  be  executed,  her  executor 
will  have  something  to  do  when  all  is  over." 

"You  do  not  intend  to  allow  her  to  be  hanged,  Thnms?" 
•demanded  McBrain,  aghast. 

"  Not  if  I  can  help  it,  Doctor ;  and  this  lie  about  the  money, 
when  clearly  disproved,  will  be  of  capital  service  to  her.  Let 
them  circulate  it  as  much  as  they  please,  the  rebound  will  be 
in  proportion  to  the  blow.  The  more  they  circulate  that  foolish 
rumour,  the  better  it  will  be  for  our  client  when  we  come  to 
trial." 

"I  suppose  you  are  right,  Timms;  though  I  could  prefer 
plainer  dealings.  A  cause  in  which  you  are  employed,  however, 
must  have  more  or  less  of  management." 

<f  Which  is  better,  'Squire,  than  your  law  and  evidence.  But 
what  else  has  Dr.  McBrain  to  tell  us?" 

"  I  hear  that  Peter  Goodwin's  nephew,  who  it  seems  had  some 
expectations  from  the  old  people,  is  particularly  savage,  and  leaves 
no  stone  unturned  to  get  up  a  popular  feeling  against  the  ac 
cused." 

"  He  had  best  beware,"  said  Dunscomb,  his  usually  colourless 
but  handsome  face  flushing  as  he  spoke.  "  I  shall  not  trifle  in  a 
jaatter  of  this  sort  —  ha!  Timms?" 

11  Lord  bless  you,  'Squire,  Duke's  county  folks  wouldn't  under- 
otand  a  denial  of  the  privilege  to  say  what  they  please  in  a  case 
of  this  sort.  They  fancy  this  is  liberty ;  and  <  touch  my  honour, 


228  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

take  your  poker/  is  not  more  sensitive  than  the  feelin'  of  liberty 
in  these  parts.  I  'm  afraid  that  not  only  this  Joe  Davis,  but  the 
reporters,  will  say  just  what  they  please ;  and  Mary  Monson's 
rights  will  whistle  for  it.  You  will  remember  that  our  judge  is 
not  only  a  bran-new  one,  but  he  drew  the  two  years'  term  into 
the  bargain.  No,  1  think  it  will  be  wisest  to  let  the  law,  and 
old  principles,  and  the  right,  and  true  liberty,  quite  alone;  and 
to  bow  the  knee  to  things  as  they  are.  A  good  deal  is  said  about 
our  fathers,  and  their  wisdom,  and  patriotism,  and  sacrifices; 
but  nobody  dreams  of  doing  as  they  did,  or  of  reasoning  as  they 
reasoned.  Life  is  made  up,  in  reality,  of  these  little  matters  in 
a  corner ;  while  the  great  principles  strut  about  in  buckram,  for 
men  to  admire  them,  and  talk  about  them.  I  do  take  considerable 
delight,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  in  hearing  you  enlarge  on  a  principle, 
whether  it  be  in  law,  morals,  or  polities;  but  I  should  no  more 
think  of  practysing  on  'em,  than  I  should  think  of  refusing  a 
thousand  dollar  fee." 

"Is  that  your  price?"  demanded  McBrain,  with  curiosity 
—  "Do  you  work  for  as  large  a  sum  as  that,  in  this  case, 
Timms?" 

"I'm  paid,  Doctor;  just  as  you  was" — the  attorney  never 
stuck  at  grammar — "just  as  you  was  for  that  great  operation  on 
the  Wall-Street  Millenary'ian " 

"Millionaire,  you  mean,  Timms,"  said  Dunscomb,  coolly — 
"it  means  one  worth  a  million." 

"  I  never  attempt  a  foreign  tongue  but  I  stumble,"  said  the 
attorney,  simply ;  for  he  knew  that  both  his  friends  were  familiar 
with  his  origin,  education,  and  advancement  in  life,  and  that  it 
was  wisest  to  deny  nothing  to  them  ;  "  but  since  I  have  been  so 
much  with  Mary  Monson  and  her  woman,  I  do  own  a  desire  to 
speak  the  language  they  use." 

Again  Dunscomb  regarded  his  associate  intently;  something 
comical  gleaming  in  his  eye. 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  229 

"  Tiinms,  you  have  fallen  in  love  with  our  handsome  client/' 
he  quietly  remarked. 

"  No,  sir ;  not  quite  as  bad  as  that,  yet ;  though  I  will  ac 
knowledge  that  the  lady  is  very  interesting.  Should  she  be 
acquitted,  and  could  we  only  get  some  knowledge  of  her  early 
history  —  why,  that  might  put  a  new  face  on  matters." 

"  I  must  drive  over  to  Biberry  in  the  morning,  and  have  an 
other  interview  with  the  lady  myself.  And  now,  Ned,  I  will  join 
your  wife,  and  read  an  emthalamium  prepared  for  this  great  oc 
casion.  You  need  not  ..rouble  yourself  to  follow,  the  song  being 
no  novelty;  for  I  have  read  it  twice  before  on  your  account." 

A  hearty  laugh  at  his  own  wit  concluded  the  discourse  on  the 
part  of  the  great  York  counsellor ;  though  Timms  remained  some 
time  longer  with  the  Doctor,  questioning  the  latter  touching 
opinions  and  facts  gleaned  by  the  physician  in  the  course  of  his 
circuit. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

"From  his  brimstone  bed  at  break  of  day, 
A  walking  the  devil  is  gone, 
To  visit  his  little  snug  farm  of  the  earth, 
And  see  how  his  stock  went  on." 

Coleridge. 

DUNSCOMB  was  as  good  as  his  word.  Next  morning  he  was  on 
nis  way  to  Biberry.  He  was  thoughtful ;  had  laid  a  bundle  of 
papers  on  the  front  seat  of  the  carriage,  and  went  his  way  musing 
and  silent.  Singularly  enough,  his  only  companion  was  Anna 
Updyke,  who  had  asked  a  seat  in  the  carriage  timidly,  but  with 
an  earnestness  that  prevailed.  Had  Jack  "Wilmeter  been  at 
Biberry,  this  request  would  not  have  been  made ;  but  she  knew 
he  was  in  town,  and  that  she  might  make  the  little  excursion 
without  the  imputation  of  indelicacy,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned. 
Her  object  will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  narrative. 

The  "best  tavern"  in  Biberry  was  kept  by  Daniel  Horton 
The  wife  of  this  good  man  had  a  native  propensity  to  talk  that 
had  been  essentially  cultivated  in  the  course  of  five-and-twenty 
years'  practice  in  the  inn  where  she  had  commenced  her  career 
as  maid ;  and  was  now  finishing  it  as  mistress.  As  is  common 
with  persons  of  her  class,  she  knew  hundreds  of  those  who  fre 
quented  her  house ;  calling  each  readily  by  name,  and  treating 
every  one  with  a  certain  degree  of  professional  familiarity  that  is 
far  from  uncommon  in  country  inns. 

"  Mr.  Dunscomb,  I  declare  ! "  cried  this  woman,  as  she  entered 
the  room,  and  found  the  counsellor  and  his  companion  in  posses 
sion  of  her  best  parlour.  "  This  is  a  pleasure  I  did  not  expect 

(230) 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       231 

until  the  circuit.  It's  quite  twenty  years,  'Squire,  since  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  first  waiting  on  you  in  this  house.  And  a  plea 
sure  it  has  always  been;  for  I've  not  forgotten  the  ejectment 
suit  that  you  carried  for  Horton  when  we  was  only  new-beginners. 
I  am  glad  to  see  you,  sir ;  welcome  to  Biberry,  as  is  this  young 
lady,  who  is  your  daughter,  I  presume,  Mr.  Dunscomb  ? " 

"  You  forget  that  I  am  a  bachelor,  Mrs.  Horton  —  no  marry 
ing  man,  in  any  sense  of  the  word." 

"I  might  have  known  that,  had  I  reflected  a  moment;  for 
they  say  Mary  Monson  employs  none  but  bachelors  and  widowers 
in  her  case ;  and  you  are  her  counsel,  I  know." 

"  This  is  a  peculiarity  of  which  I  was  not  aware.  Timms  is  a 
bachelor,  certainly,  as  well  as  myself;  but  to  whom  else  can  you 
allude  ?  Jack  Wilmeter,  my  nephew,  can  hardly  be  said  to  be 
employed  at  all ;  nor,  for  that  matter,  Michael  Millington ;  though 
neither  is  married."  --  \  •  . 

"  Yes,  sir ;  we  know  both  of  the  last  well,  they  having  lodged 
with  us.  If  young  Mr.  Wilmeter  is  single,  I  fancy  it  is  not  his 
own  fault"  • — here  Mrs.  Horton  looked  very  wise,  but  continued 
talking  —  "  Young  gentlemen  of  a  good  appearance  and  hand 
some  fortunes  commonly  have  not  much  difficulty  in  getting 
wives  —  not  as  much  as  young  ladies ;  for  you  men  make  the 
law,  and  you  give  your  own  sex  the  best  chance,  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course " 

"  Pardon  me,  Mrs.  Horton,"  interrupted  Dunscomb,  a  little 
formally,  like  one  who  felt  great  interest  in  the  subject  —  "you 
were  remarking  that  we  have  the  best  chance  of  getting  married; 
and  here  have  I  been  a  bachelor  all  my  life,  trying  in  vain  to 
enter  into  the  happy  state  of  matrimony  —  if,  indeed,  it  deserve 
to  be  so  termed/' 

"  It  could  not  be  very  difficult  for  you  to  find  a  companion/' 
said  the  landlady,  shaking  her  head ;  "  and  for  the  reason  I  have 
just  given." 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR. 

— ?» 

"That  YOU  men  haTe  made  the  laws  and  profit  by  them.    Torn 
bat »  woman  is  obliged  to  wait  to  be 


••  You  never  were  in  a  greater  mistake  in  TOUT  life,  I  do 
you,  my  good  Mis.  Horton.  There  is  no  such  law  on  the  subject 
Any  woman  may  put  the  question,  as  weH  as  any  man.  This 
ww  the  law,  and  I  don't  think  the  Code  has  changed  it" 

"Yes,  I  know  that  well  enough,  and  get  laughed  at,  and 
panted  at,  for  her  pains.  I  know  that  a  good  deal  is  said  about 
leap-rear;  but  who  e?er  heard  of  a  woman's  putting  the  ques 
tion  ?  I  fiuocy  that  eren  Mary  Monson  would  think  twice  before 
she  took  so  bold  a  step  once." 

'•  Mary  Monson  !"  exclaimed  Dunscomb,  suddenly  turning  to- 
his  hostess—"  Has  she  a  reputation  for  being  attentive  to 


"Not  that  I  know  of; 

«  Tnen  allow  me  to  say.  my  good  Mrs.  Horton,"  interrupted 
the  cekbtated  counsellor,  with  a  manner  that  was  almost  i  iiiia^ 
~*rt  jii  UH  tfrj^aHj  H  thai  fa  ••fc^  tin  apl  if 

remark  you  did.  If  you  faov  nothing  of  the  character  TOO  cer 
tainly  insinuated,  yon  should  hare  said  nothing.  It  is  Tery 
extraordinary  that  women,  afire  as  they  must  be  to  the  conse 
quences  to  one  of  then*  own  sex,  are  erer  more  ready  than  men 
to  throw  out  careless,  and  frequently  malkaons  hints,  that  take 
and  do  a  Melancholy  amount  of  harm  in  the 
IB  Ac  least  respectable,  the  most  unchristian- 
fike,  and  the  most  umlady-like  vice,  of  all  the  secondary  sins  of 
your  sex.  One  wonH  thmk  the  danger  you  are  all  exposed  to  m 


"Yes,  sir,  that  k  true;  bat  this  Mary  Monson  is  in  such  a 
pickle  already,  that  h  e  not  easy  to  make  ker  case  much  wane," 
Mis.  Horton,  a  good  deal  frightened  at  the  •auhnilj  «f 


•       THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  233 

DtrascomVs  rebuke ;  for  his  reputation  was  too  high  to  render 
his  good  or  bad  opinion  a  matter  of  indifference  to  her.  "  If 
yon  only  knew  the  half  that  is  said  of  her  in  Duke's,  you 
wouldn't  mind  a  careless  word  or  so  abont  her.  Everybody 
thinks  her  guilty ;  and  a  crime,  more  or  leas,  can  be  of  no  great 
matter  to  the  likes  of  her." 

"Ah,  Mrs.  Horton,  these  careless  words  do  a  yast  deal  of 
harm.  They  insinuate  away  a  reputation  in  a  breath ;  and  my 
experience  has  taught  me  that  they  who  are  the  most  apt  to  use 
them,  are  persons  whose  own  conduct  will  least  bear  the  light. 
TVomen  with  a  whole  log-heap  of  beams  in  their  own  eyes,  are 
remarkable  for  discovering  motes.  Give  me  the  female  who 
floats  along  quietly  in  her  sphere,  unoffending  and  charitable, 
wishing  for  the  best,  and  as  difficult  to  be  brought  to  think  as  to 
do  evil.  But,  they  talk  a  good  deal  against  my  client,  do  they?" 

"  More  than  I  have  ever  known  folks  talk  against  any  indicted 
person,  man  or  woman.  The  prize-fighters,  who  were  in  for 
murder,  had  a  pretty  hard  time  of  it ;  but  nothing  to  Mary  Mon- 
son's.  In  short,  until  'Squire  Timms  came  out  in  her  favour, 
she  had  no  chance  at  all." 

"This  is  not  very  encouraging,  certainly  —  but  what  is  said, 
Mrs.  Horton,  if  you  will  suffer  me  to  put  the  question?" 

"Why,  '  Squire  Dunscomb,"  answered  the  woman,  pursing  up 
a  very  pretty  American  mouth  of  her  own,  "  a  body  is  never  sure 
that  you  won't  call  what  she  says  slander " 

"  Poh — poh — you  know  me  better  than  that.  I  never  meddle 
with  that  vile  class  of  suits.  I  am  employed  to  defend  Mary 
Monson,  you  know " 

"  Yes,  and  are  well  paid  for  it  too,  'Squire  Dunseomb,  if  all 
that  a  body  hears  is  true/'  interrupted  Mrs.  Horton,  a  little 
spitefully.  "  Five  thousand  dollars,  they  say,  to  a  cent !" 

Dunscomb,  who  was  working  literally  without  other  reward 
than  the  p^nscdousness  of  doing  his  duty,  smiled,  while  he  frowned 


234  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.        » 

at  this  fresh  instance  of  the  absurdities  into  which  rumour  can 
lead  its  votaries.  Bowing  a  little  apology,  he  coolly  lighted  a 
segar,  and  proceeded. 

"  Where  is  it  supposed  that  Mary  Monson  can  find  such  large 
sums  to  bestow,  Mrs.  Horton  ?"  he  quietly  asked,  when  his  segar 
was  properly  lighted.  "  It  is  not  usual  for  young  and  friendless 
women  to  have  pockets  so  well  lined." 

"  Nor  is  it  usual  for  young  women  to  rob  and  murder  old  ones, 
'Squire." 

"  Was  Mrs.  Goodwin's  stocking  thought  to  be  large  enough  to 
hold  sums  like  that  you  have  mentioned?" 

u  Nobody  knows.  Gold  takes  but  little  room,  as  witness 
Californy.  There  was  General  Wilton  —  every  one  thought  him 
rich  as  Csesar " 

"  Do  you  not  mean  Croesus,  Mrs.  Horton  ?" 

"  Well,  Caesar  or  Croesus ;  both  were  rich,  I  do  suppose,  and 
General  Wilton  was  thought  the  equal  of  either ;  but,  when  he 
died,  his  estate  wouldn't  pay  his  debts.  On  the  other  hand,  old 
Davy  Davidson  was  set  down  by  nobody  at  more  than  twenty 
thousand,  and  he  left  ten  times  that  much  money.  So  I  say  no 
body  knows.  Mrs.  Goodwin  was  always  a  saving  woman,  though 
Peter  would  make  the  dollars  fly,  if  he  could  get  at  them.  There 
was  certainly  a  weak  spot  in  Peter,  though  known  to  but  a  very 
few." 

Dunscomb  now  listened  attentively.  Every  fact  of  this  nature 
was  of  importance  just  then ;  and  nothing  could  be  said  of  the 
murdered  couple  that  would  not  induce  all  engaged  in  the  cause 
to  prick  up  their  ears. 

"  I  have  always  understood  that  Peter  Goodwin  was  a  very 
respectable  sort  of  a  man,"  observed  Dunscomb,  with  a  profound 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  which  was  far  more  likely  to  induce 
the  woman  to  be  communicative,  in  the  way  of  opposition,  than 
by  any  other  procoss  —  "  as  respectable  a  man  as  any  about  here/ 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  235 

"  So  he  might  be,  but  he  had  his  weak  points  as  well  as  other 
respectable  men;  though,  as  I  have  said  already,  his'n  wasn't 
generally  known.  Everybody  is  respectable,  I  suppose,  until 
they  're  found  out.  But  Peter  is  dead  and  gone,  and  I  have  no 
wish  to  disturb  his  grave,  which  I  believe  to  be  a  sinful  act." 

This  sounded  still  more  ominously,  and  it  greatly  increased 
Dunscomb's  desire  to  learn  more.  Still  he  saw  that  great  caution 
must  be  used,  Mrs.  Horton  choosing  to  affect  much  tenderness 
for  her  deceased  neighbour's  character.  The  counsellor  knew 
human  nature  well  enough  to  be  aware  that  indifference  was 
s<  uietimes  as  good  a  stimulant  as  opposition  j  and  he  now  thought 
it  expedient  to  try  the  virtue  of  that  quality.  Without  making 
any  immediate  answer,  therefore,  he  desired  the  attentive  and 
anxious  Anna  Updyke  to  perform  some  little  office  for  him ;  thus 
managing  to  get  her  out  of  the  room,  while  the  hostess  stayed 
behind.  Then  his  segar  did  not  quite  suit  him,  and  he  tried  an 
other,  making  divers  little  delays  that  set  the  landlady  on  the 
tenter-hooks  of  impatience. 

"  Yes,  Peter  is  gone  —  dead  and  buried  —  and  I  hope  the  sod 
lies  lightly  on  his  remains  !"  she  said,  sighing  ostentatiously. 

"  Therein  you  are  mistaken,  Mrs.  Horton,"  the  counsellor 
coolly  remarked — "  the  remains  of  neither  of  those  found  in  the 
ruins  of  the  house  are  under  ground  yet ;  but  are  kept  for  the 
trial." 

"  What  a  time  we  shall  have  of  it !  —  so  exciting  and  full  of 
mystery!'' 

"  And  you  might  add  <  custom/  Mrs.  Horton.  The  reporters 
alone,  who  will  certainly  come  from  town  like  an  inroad  of  Cos 
sacks,  will  fill  your  house." 

"  Yes,  and  themselves  too.  To  be  honest  with  you,  'Squire 
Dunscomb,  too  many  of  those  gentry  wish  to  be  kept  for  nothing 
to  make  them  pleasant  boarders.  I  dare  say,  however,  we  shal. 
be  full  enough  next  week.  I  sometimes  wish  there  iras  no 


236  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

such  thing  as  justice,  after  a  hard-working  Oyer  and  Termine* 
court." 

"  You  should  be  under  no  concern,  my  good  Mrs.  Horton,  on 
that  subject.  There  is  really  so  little  of  the  thing  you  have  men 
tioned,  that  no  reasonable  woman  need  make  herself  unhappy 
about  it.  So  Peter  Goodwin  was  a  faultless  man,  was  he?" 

"  As  far  from  it  as  possible,  if  the  truth  was  said  of  him ;  and 
seeing  the  man  is  not  absolutely  under  ground,  I  do  not  know 
why  it  may  not  be  told.  I  can  respect  the  grave,  as  well  as  an 
other  ;  but,  as  he  is  not  buried,  one  may  tell  the  truth.  Peter 
Goodwin  was,  by  no  means,  the  man  he  seemed  to  be." 

"In  what  particular  did  he  fail,  my  good  Mrs.  Horton?" 

To  be  good  in  Dunscomb's  eyes,  the  landlady  well  knew,  was 
a  great  honour ;  and  she  was  flattered  as  much  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  words  were  uttered,  as  by  their  import.  Woman-like, 
Mrs.  Horton  was  overcome  by  this  little  bit  of  homage ;  and  she 
felt  disposed  to  give  up  a  secret  which,  to  do  her  justice,  had 
been  religiously  kept  now  for  some  ten  or  twelve  years  between 
herself  and  her  husband.  As  she  and  the  counsel  were  alone, 
dropping  her  voice  a  little,  more  for  the  sake  of  appearances  than 
for  any  sufficient  reason,  the  landlady  proceeded. 

"Why,  you  must  know,  ' Squire  Dunscomb,  that  Peter  Good 
win  was  a  member  of  meetin',  and  a  professing  Christian,  which 
I  suppose  was  all  the  better  for  him,  seeing  that  he  was  to  be 
murdered." 

"And  do  you  consider  his  being  a  '  professing  Christian/  as 
you  call  it,  a  circumstance  to  be  concealed?" 

"  Not  at  all,  sir — but  I  consider  it  a  good  reason  why  the  facts 
I  am  about  to  tell  you,  ought  not  to  be  generally  known.  Scoffers 
abound ;  and  I  take  it  that  the  feelings  of  a  believer  ought  to  be 
treated  more  tenderly  than  those  of  an  unbeliever,  for  the  church's 
Bake." 

"  That  is  a  fashion  of  the  times  too  —  one  of  the  ways  of  th« 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  237 

hour,  whether  it  is  to  last  or  not.  But,  proceed  if  you  please, 
my  good  Mrs.  Horton ;  I  am  quite  curious  to  know  by  what 
particular  sin  Satan  managed  to  overcome  this  '  professing  Chris 
tian  ?'  " 

"He  drank,  'Squire  Dunscomb —  no,  he  guzzled,  for  that  is 
the  best  word.  You  must  know  that  Dolly  was  avarice  itself — 
that's  the  reason  she  took  this  Mary  Monson  in  to  board,  though 
her  house  was  no  ways  suited  for  boarders,  standing  out  of  the 
way,  with  only  one  small  spare  bed-room,  and  that  under  the 
roof.  Had  she  let  this  stranger  woman  come  to  one  of  the  re 
gular  houses,  as  she  might  have  done,  and  been  far  better  accom 
modated  than  it  was  possible  for  her  to  be  in  a  garret,  it  is  not 
likely  she  would  have  been  murdered.  She  lost  her  life,  as  I  tell 
Horton,  for  meddling  with  other  people's  business." 

"  If  such  were  the  regular  and  inevitable  punishment  of  that 
particular  offence,  my  good  landlady,  there  would  be  a  great 
dearth  of  ladies,"  said  Tom  Dunscomb,  a  little  drily — "  but,  you 
were  remarking  that  Peter  G-oodwin,  the  member  of  meeting,  and 
Mary  Monson's  supposed  victim,  had  a  weakness  in  favour  of 
strong  liquor?" 

"  Juleps  were  his  choice — I  've  heard  of  a  part  of  the  country, 
somewhere  about  Virginny,  I  believe  it  is,  where  tee-totallers 
make  an  exception  in  favour  of  juleps — it  may  do  there ,  ' Squire 
Dunscomb,  but  it  won't  do  here.  No  liquor  undoes  a  body,  in 
this  part  of  the  country,  sooner  than  mint  juleps.  I  will  iind 
you  ten  constitutions  that  can  hold  out  ag'in  brandy,  or  plain 
grog,  or  even  grog,  beer  and  cider,  all  three  together,  where  you 
can  find  me  one  that  will  hold  out  ag'in  juleps.  I  always  set 
down  a  reg'lar  julep  fancier  as  a  case  —  that  is,  in  this  part  of 
the  country." 

"  Very  true,  my  good  landlady,  and  very  sensible  and  just.  I 
consider  you  a  sensible  and  just  woman,  whose  mind  has  been 
enlarged  by  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  human  nature-1 " 


238  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  A  body  does  pick  up  a  good  deal  in  and  around  a  bar,  'Squire 
Dunscomb  I" 

"  Pick  up,  indeed  —  I  've  known  'em  picked  up  by  the  dozen 
myself.  And  Peter  would  take  the  juleps  ?" 

"  Awfully  fond  of  them !  He  no  more  dared  to  take  one  at 
home,  however,  than  he  dared  to  go  and  ask  Minister  Watch  to 
make  him  one.  No,  he  know'd  better  where  the  right  sort  of 
article  was  to  be  had,  and  always  came  down  to  our  house  when 
he  was  dry.  Horton  mixes  stiff,  or  we  should  have  been  a  good 
deal  better  off  in  the  world  than  we  are — not  that  we're  mis'ra- 
ble,  as  it  is.  But  Horton  takes  it  strong  himself,  and  he  mixes 
strong  for  others.  Peter  soon  found  this  out,  and  he  fancied  his 
juleps  more,  as  he  has  often  told  me  himself,  than  the  juleps  of 
the  great  Bowery-man,  who  has  a  name  for  'em,  far  and  near. 
Horton  can  mix  a  julep,  if  he  can  do  nothing  else." 

"  And  Peter  Goodwin  was  in  the  habit  of  frequenting  your 
house  privately,  to  indulge  this  propensity." 

"I'm  almost  ashamed  to  own  that  he  did  —  perhaps  it  was 
sinful  in  us  to  let  him;  but  a  body  must  carry  out  the  idee 
of  trade  —  our  trade  is  tavern-keeping,  and  it 's  our  business  to 
mix  liquors,  though  Minister  Watch  says,  almost  every  Sabbath, 
that  professors  should  do  nothing  out  of  sight  that  they  wouldn't 
do  before  the  whole  congregation.  I  don't  hold  to  that,  however; 
for  it  would  soon  break  up  tavern-keeping  altogether.  Yes,  Peter 
did  drink  awfully,  in  a  corner." 

"To  intoxication,  do  you  mean,  Mrs.  Horton?" 

"  To  delirrum  tremus,  sir — yes,  full  up  to  that.  His  way  was 
to  come  down  to  the  village  on  the  pretence  of  business,  and  to 
come  right  to  our  house,  where  I  've  known  him  to  take  three 
juleps  in  the  first  half-hour.  Sometimes  he  'd  pretend  to  go  to 
town  to  see  his  sister,  when  he  would  stay  two  or  three  days  up 
stairs  in  a  room  that  Horton  keeps  for  what  he  calls  his  cases — he 
has  given  the  room  the  name  of  his  ward — hospital-ward  he  means.'"' 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  239 

"  Is  the  worthy  Mr.  Horton  a  member  of  the  meeting  also, 
my  good  landlady?" 

Mrs.  Horton  had  the  grace  to  colour ;  but  she  answered  with 
out  stammering,  habit  fortifying  us  in  moral  discrepancies  much 
more  serious  than  even  this. 

"  He  was,  and  I  don't  know  but  I  may  say  he  is  yet ;  though 
he  hasn't  attended,  now,  for  more  than  two  years.  The  question 
got  to  be  between  meetin'  and  the  bar ;  and  the  bar  carried  the 
day,  so  far  as  Horton  is  concerned.  I  've  held  out  better,  I  hope, 
and  expect  to  gain  a  victory.  It 's  quite  enough  to  have  one 
backslider  in  a  family,  I  tell  my  husband,  'Squire." 

"  A  sufficient  supply,  ma'am  —  quite  a  sufficiency.  So  Peter 
Goodwin  lay  in  your  house  drunk,  days  at  a  time  ?" 

"  I  'm  sorry  to  say  he  did.  He  was  here  a  week  once,  with 
delirrum  tremus  on  him ;  but  Horton  carried  him  through  by 
the  use  of  juleps ;  for  that 's  the  time  to  take  'em,  everybody 
says ;  and  we  got  him  home  without  old  Dolly's  knowing  that  he 
hadn't  been  with  his  sister  the  whole  time.  That  turn  satisfied 
Peter  for  three  good  months." 

"  Did  Peter  pay  as  he  went,  or  did  you  keep  a  score  ?" 

"  Ready  money,  sir.  Cateh  us  keeping  an  account  with  a  man 
when  his  wife  ruled  the  roast !  No,  Peter  paid  like  a  king,  for 
every  mouthful  he  swallowed." 

"  I  am  far  from  certain  that  the  comparison  is  a  good  one, 
kings  being  in  no  degree  remarkable  for  paying  their  debts.  But, 
is  it  not  possible  that  Peter  may  have  set  his  own  house  on  fire, 
and  thus  have  caused  all  this  calamity,  for  which  my  client  is 
held  responsible?" 

"  I  've  thought  that  over  a  good  deal  since  the  murder,  'Squire, 
but  don't  well  see  how  it  can  be  made  out.  Setting  the  building 
on  fire  is  simple  enough ;  but  who  killed  the  old  couple,  and  who 
robbed  the  house,  unless  this  Mary  Monson  did  both?" 

"  The  case  has  its  difficulties,  no  doubt ;  but  I  have  known  the 


240  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

day  to  dawn  after  a  darker  night  than  this.  I  believe  that  Mrs. 
Goodwin  and  her  husband  were  very  nearly  of  the  same  height?" 

"  Exactly ;  I  've  seen  them  measure,  back  to  back.  He  was  a 
very  short  man,  and  she  a  very  tall  woman  ! " 

"  Do  you  know  anything  of  a  German  female  who  is  said  to 
have  lived  with  the  unfortunate  couple?" 

"  There  has  been  some  talk  of  such  a  person  since  the  fire ; 
but  Dolly  Goodwin  kept  no  help.  She  was  too  stingy  for  that ; 
then  she  had  no  need  of  it,  being  very  strong  and  stirring  for  her 
time  of  life." 

"  Might  not  a  boarder,  like  Miss  Monson,  have  induced  her  to 
take  this  foreigner  into  her  family  for  a  few  weeks  ?  The  nearest 
neighbours,  those  who  would  be  most  likely  to  know  all  about  it, 
say  that  no  wages  were  given  \  the  woman  working  for  her  food 
and  lodging." 

"'Squire  Dunscomb,  you'll  never  make  it  out  that  any  Ger 
man  killed  Peter  and  his  wife." 

"  Perhaps  not ;  though  even  that  is  possible.  Such,  however, 
is  not  the  object  of  my  present  enquiries  —  but,  here  comes  my 
associate  counsel,  and  I  will  take  another  occasion  to  continue 
this  conversation,  my  good  Mrs.  Horton." 

Timms  entered  with  a  hurried  air.  For  the  first  time  in  his 
life  'he  appeared  to  his  associate  and  old  master  to  be  agitated. 
Cold,  calculating,  and  cunning,  this  man  seldom  permitted  him 
self  to  be  so  much  thrown  off  his  guard  as  to  betray  emotion ; 
but  now  he  actually  did.  There  was  a  tremor  in  his  form  that 
extended  to  his  voice ;  and  he  seemed  afraid  to  trust  the  latter 
even  in  the  customary  salutations.  Nodding  his  head,  he  drew  a 
chair  and  took  his  seat. 

"You  have  been  to  the  gaol?"  asked  Dunscomb. 

A  nod  was  the  answer. 

"  You  were  admitted,  and  had  an  interview  with  our  client?" 

Nod  the  third  was  the  only  reply. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  JJ41 

w  Did  you  put  the  questions  to  her,  as  I  desired  V ' 

"  I  did,  sir ;  but  I  would  sooner  cross-examine  all  Duke's,  than 
undertake  to  get  anything  she  does  not  wish  to  tell,  out  of  that 
one  young  lady ! '; 

"  I  fancy  most  young  ladies  have  a  faculty  for  keeping  such 
matters  to  themselves  as  they  do  not  wish  to  reveal.  Am  I  to 
understand  that  you  got  no  answers?" 

"  I  really  do  not  know,  'Squire.  She  was  polite,  and  obliging, 
and  smiling  —  but,  somehow  or  other,  I  do  not  recollect  her  re 
plies." 

"  You  must  be  falling  in  love,  Timms,  to  return  with  such  an 
account,"  retorted  Dunscomb,  a  cold  but  very  sarcastic  smile 
passing  over  his  face.  "Have  a  care,  sir;  'tis  a  passion  that 
makes  a  fool  of  a  man  sooner  than  any  other.  I  do  not  think 
there  is  much  danger  of  the  lady's  returning  your  flame ;  unless, 
indeed,  you  can  manage  to  make  her  acquittal  a  condition  of  the 
match." 

"  I  am  afraid  —  dreadfully  afraid,  her  acquittal  will  be  a  very 
desperate  affair,"  answered  Timms,  passing  his  hands  down  his 
face,  as  if  to  wipe  away  his  weakness.  "  The  deeper  I  get  into 
the  matter,  the  worse  it  appears  \" 

"  Have  you  given  our  client  any  intimation  to  this  effect  ?" 

"  I  hadn't  the  heart  to  do  it.  She  is  just  as  composed,  and 
calm,  and  tranquil,  and  judicious  —  yes,  and  ingenious,  as  if  she 
were  only  the  counsel  in  this  affair  of  life  and  death  !  I  couldn't 
distrust  so  much  tranquillity.  I  wish  I  knew  her  history  I" 

"  My  interrogatories  pointed  out  the  absolute  necessity  of  her 
furnishing  us  with  the  means  of  enlightening  the  court  and  jury 
on  that  most  material  point,  should  the  worst  come  to  the  worst." 

"  I  know  they  did,  sir ;  but  they  no  more  got  at  the  truth  than 
my  own  pressing  questions.  I  should  like  to  see  that  lady  on  the 
stand,  above  all  things !  I  think  she  would  bother  saucy  Williams, 
and  fairly  put  him  out  of  countenance.  By  the  way,  sir,  I  hew 

11 


242  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

he  is  employed  against  us  by  the  nephew,  who  is  quite  furioua 
about  the  loss  of  the  money,  which  he  pretends  was  a  much 
larger  sum  than  the  neighbourhood  has  commonly  supposed." 

"  I  have  always  thought  the  relations  would  employ  some  one 
to  assist  the  public  prosecutor  in  a  case  of  this  magnitude.  The 
theory  of  our  government  is  that  the  public  virtue  will  see  the 
laws  executed ;  but,  in  my  experience,  Timms,  this  public  virtue 
is  a  very  acquiescent  and  indifferent  quality,  seldom  troubling 
itself  even  to  abate  a  nuisance,  until  its  own  nose  is  offended,  or 
its  own  pocket  damaged." 

"  Roguery  is  always  more  active  than  honesty  —  I  found  that 
out  long  since,  'Squire.  But,  it  is  natural  for  a  public  prosecutor 
not  to  press  one  on  trial  for  life,  and  the  accused  a  woman,  closer 
than  circumstances  seem  to  demand.  It  is  true,  that  popular 
feeling  is  strong  ag'in  Mary  Monson ;  but  it  was  well  in  the  ne 
phew  to  fee  such  a  bull-dog  as  Williams,  if  he  wishes  to  make  a 
clean  sweep  of  it." 

"Does  our  client  know  this?" 

"  Certainly ;  she  seems  to  know  all  about  her  case,  and  has  a 
strange  pleasure  in  entering  into  the  mode  and  manner  of  her 
defence.  It  would  do  your  heart  good,  sir,  to  see  the  manner  in 
which  she  listens,  and  advises,  and  consults.  She  'a  wonderful 
handsome  at  such  times !" 

"  You  are  in  love,  Timms ;  and  I  shall  have  to  engage  some 
other  assistant.  First  Jack,  and  then  you !  Umph  !  This  is  a 
strange  world,  of  a  verity." 

"  I  don't  think  it 's  quite  as  bad  with  me  as  that,"  said  Timms, 
this  time  rubbing  his  shaggy  eye-brows  as  if  to  ascertain  whether 
or  not  he  were  dreaming,  "  though  I  must  own  I  do  not  feel  pre 
cisely  as  I  did  a  month  since.  I  wish  you  would  see  our  client 
yourself,  sir,  and  make  her  understand  how  important  it  is 
to  her  interest  that  we  should  know  something  of  her  past  his 
tory." 


THE   WAYS   OF   THE   HOUR.  343 

"  Bo  you  think  her  name  is  rightfully  set  forth  in  the  indict 
ment?" 

"  By  no  means — but,  as  she  has  called  herself  Mary  Monson, 
she  cannot  avail  herself  of  her  own  acts." 

"  Certainly  not  —  I  asked  merely  as  a  matter  of  information. 
She  must  be  made  to  feel  the  necessity  of  fortifying  us  on  that 
particular  point,  else  it  will  go  far  towards  convicting  her.  Jurors 
£o  not  like  aliases." 

"  She  knows  this  already ;  for  I  have  laid  the  matter  before 
her,  again  and  again.  Nothing  seems  to  move  her,  however;  and 
as  to  apprehension,  she  appears  to  be  above  all  fear." 

"  This  is  most  extraordinary !  —  Have  you  interrogated  the 
maid?" 

"  How  can  I  ?  She  speaks  no  English ;  and  I  can't  utter  a 
syllable  in  any  foreign  tongue." 

"  Ha !  Does  she  pretend  to  that  much  ignorance  ?  Marie 
Moulin  speaks  very  intelligible  English,  as  I  know  from  having 
conversed  with  her  often.  She  is  a  clever,  prudent  Swiss,  from 
one  of  the  French  cantons,  and  is  known  for  her  fidelity  and 
trustworthiness.  With  me  she  will  hardly  venture  to  practise 
this  deception.  If  she  has  feigned  ignorance  of  English,  it  was 
in  order  to  keep  her  secrets." 

Timms  admitted  the  probability  of  its  being  so ;  then  he  en 
tered  into  a  longer  and  more  minute  detail  of  the  state  of  the 
case.  In  the  first  place,  he  admitted  that,  in  spite  of  all  his  own 
efforts  to  the  contrary,  the  popular  feeling  was  setting  strong 
against  their  client.  "  Frank  Williams,"  as  he  called  the  saucy 
person  who  bore  that  name,  had  entered  into  the  struggle  might 
and  main,  and  was  making  his  customary  impressions. 

"  His  fees  must  be  liberal,"  continued  Timms,  "and  I  should 
think  are  in  some  way  dependent  on  the  result ;  for  I  never  saw 
the  fellow  more  engaged  in  my  life." 

"  This  precious  Code  does  allow  such  a  bargain  to  be  made 


244  THE   WAYS   OF   THE   HOUR. 

between  the  counsel  and  his  client,  or  any  other  bargain  that  is 
not  downright  conspiracy,"  returned  Dunscomb ;  "  but  I  do  not 
Bee  what  is  to  be  shared,  even  should  Mary  Monson  be  hanged." 

"  Do  not  speak  in  that  manner  of  so  agreeable  a  person,"  cried 
Timins,  actually  manifesting  emotion — "  it  is  unpleasant  to  think 
of  It  is  true,  a  conviction  will  not  bring  money  to  the  prose 
cution,  unless  it  should  bring  to  light  some  of  Mrs.  Goodwin's 
hoards." 

Dunscomb  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  his  associate  proceeded 
with  his  narrative.  Two  of  the  reporters  were  offended,  and  their 
allusions  to  the  cause,  which  were  almost  daily  in  their  respective 
journals,  were  ill-natured,  and  calculated  to  do  great  harm,  though 
so  far  covered  as  to  wear  an  air  of  seeming  candour.  The  natural 
effect  of  this  "  constant  dropping,"  in  a  community  accustomed 
to  refer  everything  to  the  common  mind,  had  been  "  to  wear  away 
the  stone."  Many  of  those  who,  at  first,  had  been  disposed  to 
sustain  the  accused,  unwilling  to  believe  that  one  so  young,  so 
educated,  so  modest  in  deportment,  so  engaging  in  manners,  and 
of  the  gentler  sex,  could  possibly  be  guilty  of  the  crimes  im 
puted,  were  now  changing  their  opinions,  under  the  control  of 
this  potent  and  sinister  mode  of  working  on  the  public  sentiment. 
The  agents  employed  by  Timms  to  counteract  this  malign  influ 
ence  had  failed  of  their  object;  they  working  merely  for  money, 
while  those  of  the  other  side  were  resenting  what  they  regarded 
as  an  affront. 

The  family  of  the  Burtons,  the  nearest  neighbours  of  the 
Goodwins,  no  longer  received  Timms  with  the  frank  cordiality  that 
they  had  manifested  in  the  earlier  period  of  his  intercourse  with 
them.  Then,  they  had  been  communicative,  eager  to  tell  all  that 
they  knew,  and,  as  the  lawyer  fancied,  even  a  little  more ;  while 
they  were  now  reserved,  uneasy,  and  indisposed  to  let  one-half 
of  the  real  facts  within  their  knowledge  be  known.  Timms 
thought  they  Jiad  been  worked  upon,  and  that  they  might  expect 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       245 

gome  hostile  and  important  testimony  from  that  quarter.  The 
consultation  ended  by  an  exclamation  from  Dunscomb  on  the 
subject  of  the  abuses  that  were  so  fast  creeping  into  the  adminis 
tration  of  justice,  rendering  the  boasted  freemen  of  America, 
though  in  a  different  mode,  little  more  likely  to  receive  its  benefit 
from  an  unpolluted  stream,  than  they  who  live  under  the  worn 
out  and  confessedly  corrupt  systems  of  tue  old  world.  Such  is 
the  tendency  of  things,  and  such  one  of  the  ways  of  the  hour. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

"Are  those  Tier  ribs  through  which  the  snn 
Did  peer,  as  through  a  grate ; 
And  is  that  woman  all  her  crew? 
Is  that  a  Death,  and  are  there  two? 
Is  Death  that  woman's  mate." 

The  Phantom  Ship. 

AFTER  a  short  preparatory  interview  with  Anna  Updyke,  Duns- 
comb  repaired  to  the  gaol,  whither  he  had  already  despatched  a 
note  to  announce  his  intended  visit.  Good  Mrs.  Gott  received 
him  with  earnest  attention ;  for,  as  the  day  of  trial  approached, 
this  kind-hearted  woman  manifested  a  warmer  and  warmer  in 
terest  in  the  fate  of  her  prisoner. 

"  You  are  welcome,  Mr.  Dunscomb,"  said  this  well-disposed 
and  gentle  turnkey,  as  she  led  the  way  to  the  door  that  opened 
on  the  gallery  of  the  gaol ;  "  and  welcome,  again  and  again.  I 
do  wish  this  business  may  fall  into  good  hands ;  and  I  'm  afraid 
Timms  is  not  getting  on  with  it  as  well  as  he  might." 

"  My  associate  has  the  reputation  of  being  a  skilful  attorney 
and  a  good  manager,  Mrs.  Gott." 

"  So  he  has,  Mr.  Dunscomb ;  but  somehow  —  I  scarce  know 
how  myself — but  somehow,  he  doesn't  get  along  with  this  cause, 
as  well  as  I  have  known  him  to  get  along  with  others.  The 
excitement  in  the  county  is  terrible;  and  Gott  has  had  seven 
anonymous  letters  to  let  him  know  that  if  Mary  Monson  escape, 
his  hopes  from  the  public  are  gone  for  ever.  I  tell  him  not  to 
jnind  such  contemptible  things ;  but  he  is  frightened  half  out  of 

(246) 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  241 

his  wits.  It  takes  good  courage,  '  Squire,  to  treat  an  anonymous 
letter  with  the  contempt  it  merits." 

"  It  sometimes  does,  indeed.  Then  you  think  we  shall  have 
up-hill  work  with  the  defence''' 

"  Dreadful ! — I  Jve  never  known  a  cause  so  generally  tried  out 
of  doors  as  this.  What  makes  the  matter  more  provoking,  Mary 
Monson  might  have  had  it  all  her  own  way,  if  she  had  been  so 
minded ;  for,  at  first,  she  was  popularity  itself  with  all  the  neigh 
bours.  Folks  nat'rally  like  beauty,  and  elegance,  and  youth; 
and  Mary  has  enough  of  each  to  make  friends  anywhere." 

"What!  with  the  ladies?"  said  Dunscomb,  smiling.  "  Surely 
not  with  your  sex,  Mrs.  Gott?" 

"  Yes,  with  the  women,  as  well  as  with  the  men,  if  she  would 
only  use  her  means ;  but  she  stands  in  her  own  light.  Crowds 
have  been  round  the  outer  windows  to  hear  her  play  on  the  harp 
— they  tell  me  she  uses  the  real  Jew's  Harp,  ''Squire  Dunscomb; 
such  as  Royal  David  used  to  play  on ;  and  that  she  has  great 
skill.  There  is  a  German  in  the  village  who  knows  all  about 
music,  and  he  says  Mary  Monson  has  been  excellently  taught — 
by  the  very  best  masters." 

"  It  is  extraordinary ;  yet  it  would  seem  to  be  so.  Will  you 
ihave  the  goodness  to  open  the  door,  Mrs.  Gott  ?" 

"  With  all  my  heart,"  answered  this,  in  one  sense,  very  singular 
turnkey,  though  in  another  a  very  every-day  character,  jingling 
her  keys,  but  not  taking  a  forward  step  to  comply ;  "  Mary  Mon 
son  expects  you.  "I  suppose,  sir,  you  know  that  saucy  Frank 
Williams  is  retained  by  the  friends  of  the  Goodwins?" 

"  Mr.  Timms  has  told  me  as  much  as  that.  I  cannot  say, 
however,  that  I  have  any  particular  apprehension  of  encountering 
Mr.  Williams." 

"  No,  sir ;  not  you,  I  '11  engage,  not  in  open  court ;  but  out 
of  doors  he  '&  very  formidable." 

u  I  trust  this  cause,  one  involving  the  life  and  reputation  of  a 


248  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

very  interesting  female,  will  not  be  tried  out  of  doors,  Mrs.  Gott, 
The  issue  is  too  serious  for  such  a  tribunal." 

"  So  a  body  would  think ;  but  a  great  deal  of  law-business  is 
settled,  they  tell  me,  under  the  sheds,  and  in  the  streets,  and  in 
the  taverns ;  most  especially  in  the  juror's  bed-rooms,  and  settled 
in  a  way  it  ought  not  to  be." 

"  I  am  afraid  you  are  nearer  right  than  every  just-minded  per 
son  could  wish.  But  we  will  talk  of  this  another  time  —  the 
door  if  you  please,  now." 

"  Yes,  sir,  in  one  minute.  It  would  be  so  easy  for  Mary  Mon- 
son  to  be  just  as  popular  with  everybody  in  Biberry  as  she  is  with 
toe.  Let  her  come  to  one  of  the  side-windows  of  the  gallery  this 
evening,  and  show  herself  to  the  folks,  and  play  on  that  harp  of 
her's,  and  Royal  David  himself  could  not  have  been  better  liked 
by  the  Jews  of  old,  than  she  would  soon  be  by  our  people  here^- 
abouts." 

"  It  is  probably  now  too  late.  The  court  sits  in  a  few  days  ; 
and  the  mischief,  if  any  there  be,  must  be  done." 

"  No  such  thing,  begging  your  pardon,  'Squire.  There  's  that 
in  Mary  Monson  that  can  carry  anything  she  pleases.  Folks 
now  think  her  proud  and  consequential,  because  she  will  not  just 
stand  at  one  of  the  grates  and  let  them  look  at  her  a  little." 

"  I  am  afraid,  Mrs.  Gott,  your  husband  has  taught  you  a 
greater  respect  for  those  you  call  l  the  people,'  than  they  deserve 
to  receive  at  your  hands." 

"  Gott  is  dreadfully  afraid  of  them " 

"  And  he  is  set  apart  by  the  laws  to  see  them  executed  on 
these  very  people,"  interrupted  Dunscomb,  with  a  sneer;  "to 
levy  on  their  possessions,  keep  the  peace,  enforce  the  laws;  in 
short,  to  make  them  feel,  whenever  it  is  necessary,  that  they  are 
governed  /" 

"Gott  says  'that  the  people  will  rule/  That's  Aw  grea* 
saying." 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  249 

€t  Will  seem  to  rule,  is  true  enough ;  but  the  most  that  the 
mass  of  any  nation  can  do,  is  occasionally  to  check  the  proceed 
ings  of  their  governors.  The  every-day  work  is  most  effectually 
done  by  a  favoured  few  here,  just  as  it  is  done  by  a  favoured  few 
everywhere  else.  The  door,  now,  if  you  please,  my  good  Mrs. 
Gott." 

"  Yes,  sir,  in  one  minute.  Dear  me  !  how  odd  that  you  should 
think  so.  Why,  I  thought  that  you  were  a  democrat,  Mr.  Duns- 
comb  ?" 

"  So  I  am,  as  between  forms  of  government ;  but  I  never  was 
fool  enough  to  think  that  the  people  can  really  rule,  further  than 
by  occasional  checks  and  rebukes. " 

"  What  would  Gott  say  to  this !  Why,  he  is  so  much  afraid 
of  the  people,  that  he  tells  me  he  never  does  anything,  without 
fancying  some  one  is  looking  over  his  shoulders/' 

"  Ay,  that  is  a  very  good  rule  for  a  man  who  wishes  to  be 
chosen  sheriff.  To  be  a  bishop,  it  would  be  better  to  remember 
the  omniscient  eye." 

"  I  do  declare  —  oh  !  Gott  never  thinks  of  1liat,  more 's  the 
pity,"  applying  the  key  to  the  lock.  "  When  you  wish  to  come 
out,  'Squire,  just  call  at  this  grate" — then  dropping  her  voice  to 
a  whisper — "try  and  persuade  Mary  Monson  to  show  herself  at 
one  of  the  side  grates." 

But  Dunscomb  entered  the  gallery  with  no  such  intention.  As 
he  was  expected,  his  reception  was  natural  and  easy.  The  pri 
soner  was  carefully  though  simply  dressed,  and  she  appeared  all 
the  better,  most  probably,  for  some  of  the  practised  arts  of  her 
woman.  Marie  Moulin,  herself,  kept  modestly  within  the  cell, 
where,  indeed,  she  passed  most  of  her  time,  leaving  the  now 
quite  handsomely  furnished  gallery  to  the  uses  of  her  mistress. 

After  the  first  few  words  of  salutation,  Dunscomb  took  th« 
chair  he  was  invited  to  occupy,  a  good  deal  at  a  loss  how  to 
address  a  woman  of  his  companion's  mien  and  general  air  as  a 

11* 


250  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

culprit  about  to  be  tried  for  her  life.  He  first  attempted  words 
of  course. 

"  I  see  you  have  had  a  proper  regard  to  your  comforts  in  thia 
miserable  place/'  he  remarked. 

"  Do  not  call  it  by  so  forbidding  a  name,  Mr.  Dunscomb,"  was 
the  answer,  given  with  a  sorrowful,  but  exceedingly  winning 
Bmile  —  " it  is  my  place  of  refuge" 

"  Do  you  still  persist  in  refusing  to  tell  me  against  what,  Miss 
Monson?" 

"  I  persist  in  nothing  that  ought  not  to  be  done,  I  hope.  At 
another  time  I  may  be  more  communicative.  But,  if  what  Mrs. 
Grott  tells  me  is  correct,  I  need  these  walls  to  prevent  my  being 
torn  to  pieces  by  those  she  calls  the  people,  outside." 

Dunscomb  looked  with  amazement  at  the  being  who  quietly 
made  this  remark  on  her  own  situation.  Of  beautiful  form,  with 
all  the  signs  of  a  gentle  origin  and  refined  education,  young 
handsome,  delicate,  nay,  dainty  of  speech  and  acts,  there  she  sat, 
indicted  for  arson  and  murder,  and  about  to  be  tried  for  her  life, 
with  the  composure  of  a  lady  in  her  drawing-room !  The  illumi 
nated  expression  that,  at  times,  renderejd  her  countenance  so  very 
remarkable,  had  now  given  place  to  one  of  sobered  sadness; 
though  apprehension  did  not  appear  to  be  in  the  least  predo 
minant. 

"  The  sheriff  has  instilled  into  his  wife  a  very  healthful  respect 
for  those  she  calls  the  people — healthful,  for  one  who  looks  to 
their  voices  for  his  support.  This  is  very  American." 

"  I  suppose  it  to  be  much  the  same  everywhere.  I  have  been 
a  good  deal  abroad,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  and  cannot  say  I  perceive 
any  great  difference  in  men." 

"  Nor  is  there  any,  though  circumstances  cause  different  modes 
of  betraying  their  weaknesses,  as  well  as  what  there  is  in  them 
that  is  good.  But  the  people  in  this  country,  Miss  Monson, 
possess  a  power  that,  in  your  ease,  is  not  to  be  despised.  AM 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  251 

Mrs.  G-ofrb  would  intimate,  it  may  be  prudent  for  you  to  remem 
ber  that." 

"  Surely  you  would  not  have  me  make  an  exhibition  of  my 
self,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  at  the  window  of  a  gaol  I" 

"  As  far  from  that  as  possible.  I  would  have  you  do  nothing 
that  is  unbecoming  one  of  your  habits  and  opinions  —  nothing, 
in  short,  that  would  be  improper,  as  a  means  of  defence,  by  one 
accused  and  tried  by  the  State.  Nevertheless,  it  is  always  wiser 
to  make  friends  than  to  make  enemies." 

Mary  Monson  lowered  her  eyes  to  the  carpet,  and  Dunscomb 
perceived  that  her  thoughts  wandered.  They  were  not  on  her 
critical  situation.  It  was  indispensably  necessary,  however,  that 
he  should  be  explicit,  and  he  did  not  shrink  from  his  duty. 
Gently,  but  distinctly,  and  with  a  clearness  that  a  far  less  gifted 
mind  than  that  of  the  accused  could  comprehend,  he  now  opened 
the  subject  of  the  approaching  trial.  A  few  words  were  first 
ventured  on  its  grave  character,  and  on  the  vast  importance  it 
was  in  all  respects  to  his  client ;  to  which  the  latter  listened  at 
tentively,  but  without  the  slightest  visible  alarm.  Next,  he 
alluded  to  the  stories  that  were  in  circulation,  the  impression 
they  were  producing,  and  the  danger  there  was  that  her  rights 
might  be  affected  by  these  sinister  opinions. 

"  But  I  am  to  be  tried  by  a  judge  and  a  jury,  they  tell  me/' 
said  Mary  Monson,  when  Dunscomb  ceased  speaking  —  "  they 
will  come  from  a  distance,  and  will  not  be  prejudiced  against  me 
by  all  this  idle  gossip/' 

"Judges  and  jurors  are  only  men,  and  nothing  goes  farther 
with  less  effort  than  your  'idle  gossip.'  Nothing  is  repeated  ac 
curately,  or  it  is  very  rare  to  find  it  so ;  and  those  who  only  half 
comprehend  a  subject  are  certain  to  relate  with  exaggerations  and 
false  colourings." 

"  How,  then,  can  the  electors  discover  the  real  characters  of 
those  for  whom  they  are  required  to  vote  ?"  demanded  Mary 


252  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

Monson,  smiling ;  "  or  get  just  ideas  of  the  measures  they  are 
to  support  or  to  oppose?" 

"  Half  the  time  they  do  neither.  It  exceeds  all  our  present 
means,  at  least,  to  diffuse  sufficient  information  for  that.  The 
consequence  is,  that  appearances  and  assertions  are  made  to  take 
the  place  of  facts.  The  mental  food  of  the  bulk  of  this  nation 
is  an  opinion  simulated  by  the  artful  to  answer  their  own  pur 
poses.  But  the  power  of  the  masses  is  getting  to  be  very  formi 
dable  —  more  formidable  in  a  way  never  contemplated  by  those 
who  formed  the  institutions,  than  in  any  way  that  was  foreseen. 
Among  other  things,  they  begin  to  hold  the  administration  of 
justice  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands." 

"  I  am  not  to  be  tried  by  the  masses,  I  trust.  If  so,  my  fate 
would  be  very  hard,  I  fear,  judging  from  what  I  hear  in  my  little 
excursions  in  the  neighbourhood." 

"Excursions,  MissMonson !"  repeated  the  astonished  Dunseomb. 

"  Excursions,  sir ;  I  make  one  for  the  benefit  of  air  and  exer 
cise,  every  favourable  night,  at  this  fine  season  of  the  year. 
Surely  you  would  not  have  me  cooped  up  here  in  a  gaol,  without 
the  relief  of  a  little  fresh  air?" 

"  With  the  knowledge  and  concurrence  of  the  sheriff,  or  that 
of  his  wife?" 

"  Perhaps  not  strictly  with  those  of  either;  though  I  suspect 
good  Mrs.  G-ott  has  an  inkling  of  my  movements.  It  would  be 
too  hard  to  deny  myself  air  and  exercise,  both  of  which  are  very 
necessary  to  my  health,  because  I  am  charged  with  these  horrid 
crimes." 

Dunseomb  passed  a  hand  over  his  brow,  as  if  he  desired  t« 
clear  his  mental  vision  by  friction  of  the  physical,  and,  for  a  mo 
ment,  sat  absolutely  lost  in  wonder.  He  scarce  knew  whether  he 
was  or  was  not  dreaming. 

"  And  you  have  actually  been  outside  of  these  walls,  Mis? 
Monson!"  he  exclaimed,  at  length. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  253 

"  Twenty  times,  at  least.  Why  should  I  stay  within  them, 
when  the  means  of  quitting  them  are  always  in  my  power  ?" 

As  Mary  Monson  said  this,  she  showed  her  counsel  a  set  of 
keys  that  corresponded  closely  with  those  which  good  Mrs.  Gott 
was  in  the  habit  of  using  whenever  she  came  to  open  the  door 
of  that  particular  gallery.  A  quiet  smile  betrayed  how  little 
the  prisoner  fancied  there  was  anything  remarkable  in  all  this. 

"  Are  you  aware,  Miss  Monson,  it  is  felony  to  assist  a  prisoner 
to  escape?" 

"  So  they  tell  me,  Mr.  Dunscomb;  but  as  I  have  not  escaped, 
or  made  any  attempt  to  escape,  and  have  returned  regularly  and 
in  good  season  to  my  gaol,  no  one  can  be  harmed  for  what  I  have 
done.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Tiimns." 

Dunscomb  did  not  like  the  expression  of  face  that  accompanied 
this  speech.  It  might  be  too  much  to  say  it  was  absolutely  cun 
ning  ;  but  there  was  so  much  of  the  manoeuvring  of  one  accus 
tomed  to  manage  in  it,  that  it  awakened  the  unpleasant  distrust 
that  existed  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  intercourse  with  this  singular 
young  woman,  and  which  had  now  been  dormant  for  several  weeks. 
There  was,  however,  so  much  of  the  cold  polish  of  the  upper 
classes  in  his  client's  manner,  that  the  offending  expression  was 
thrown  off  from  the  surface  of  her  looks,  as  light  is  reflected 
from  the  ground  and  silvered  mirror.  At  the  very  instant  which 
succeeded  this  seeming  gleam  of  cunning,  all  was  calm,  quiet, 
refined,  gentle,  and  without  apparent  emotion  in  the  countenance 
of  the  accused. 

"  Tirnms  I"  repeated  Dunscomb,  slowly.     "  So  Tie  has  known 
of  this,  and  I  dare  say  has  had  an  agency  in  bringing  it  about?" 
"  As  you  say  it  is  felony  to  aid  a  prisoner  to  escape,  I  can  say 
neither  yes  nor  no  to  this,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  lest  I  betray  an  ac 
complice.     I  should  rather  think,  however,  that  Mr.  Timms  is 
not  a  person  to  be  easily  caught  in  the  meshes  of  the  law/7 
Again  the  counsellor  disliked  the  expression;  though  Mary 


254  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

Monson  looked  unusually  pretty  at  that  particular  moment.  He 
did  not  pause  to  analyze  his  feelings,  notwithstanding,  but  rather 
sought  to  relieve  his  own  curiosity,  which  had  been  a  good  deal 
aroused  by  the  information  just  received. 

"  As  you  have  not  hesitated  to  tell  me  of  what  you  call  your 
*  excursions/  Miss  Monson,"  he  continued,  "  perhaps  you  will  so 
far  extend  your  confidence  as  to  let  me  know  where  you  go  ?" 

"  I  can  have  no  objection  to  that.  Mr.  Timms  tells  me  the 
law  cannot  compel  a  counsel  to  betray  his  client's  secrets ;  and 
of  course  I  am  safe  with  you.  Stop  —  I  have  a  duty  to  perform 
that  has  been  too  long  delayed.  Gentlemen  of  your  profession 
are  entitled  to  their  fees ;  and,  as  yet,  I  have  been  very  remiss  in 
this  respect.  Will  you  do  me  the  favour,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  to  ac 
cept  that,  which  you  will  see  has  been  some  time  in  readiness  to 
be  offered." 

Dunscomb  was  too  much  of  a  professional  man  to  feel  any 
embarrassment  at  this  act  of  justice;  but  he  took  the  letter, 
broke  the  seal,  even  before  his  client's  eyes,  and  held  up  for 
examination  a  note  for  a  thousand  dollars.  Prepared  as  he  was 
by  Timms's  account  for  a  liberal  reward,  this  large  sum  took  him 
a  good  deal  by  surprise. 

"  This  is  an  unusual  fee,  Miss  Monson  !"  he  exclaimed;  "one 
much  more  considerable  than  I  should  expect  from  you,  were  I 
working  for  remuneration,  as  in  your  case  I  certainly  am  not." 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  law  look  for  their  reward,  I  believe,  as 
much  as  others.  "We  do  not  live  in  the  times  of  chivalry,  when 
gallant  men  assisted  distressed  damsels  as  a  matter  of  honour ; 
but  in  what  has  well  been  termed  a  '  bank-note  world/  " 

"  I  have  no  wish  to  set  myself  up  above  the  fair  practices  of 
my  profession,  and  am  as  ready  to  accept  a  fee  as  any  man  in 
Nassau-Street.  Nevertheless,  I  took  your  case  in  hand  with  a 
very  different  motive.  It  would  pain  me  to  be  obliged  to  work 
for  a  fee,  on  the  present  unhappy  occasion." 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  255 

Mary  Monson  looked  grateful,  and  for  a  minute  she  seemed  to 
be  reflecting  on  some  scheme  by  which  she  could  devise  a  substi 
tute  for  the  old-fashioned  mode  of  proceeding  in  a  case  of  this 
Bort. 

"  You  have  a  niece,  Mr.  Dunscomb,"  she  at  length  exclaimed — 
"  as  Marie  Moulin  informs  me  ?  A  charming  girl,  and  who  is 
about  to  be  married?" 

The  lawyer  assented  by  an  inclination  of  the  head,  fastening 
his  penetrating  black  eyes  on  the  full,  expressive,  greyish-blue 
ones  of  his  companion. 

"You  intend  to  return  to  town  this  evening?"  said  Mary 
Monson,  in  continuation. 

"  Such  is  my  intention.  I  came  here  to-day  to  confer  with 
you  and  Mr.  Timms,  on  the  subject  of  the  trial,  to  see  how 
natters  stand  on  the  spot,  by  personal  observation,  and  to  intro 
duce  to  you  one  who  feels  the  deepest  interest  in  your  welfare, 
and  desires  most  earnestly  to  seek  your  acquaintance." 

The  prisoner  was  now  silent,  interrogating  with  her  singularly 
expressive  eyes. 

"  It  is  Anna  Updyke,  the  step-daughter  of  my  nearest  friend, 
Dr.  McBrain;  and  a  very  sincere,  warm-hearted,  and  excellent 
girl" 

"  I  have  heard  of  her,  too,"  returned  Mary  Monson,  with  a 
smile  so  strange,  that  her  counsel  wished  she  had  not  given  this 
demonstration  of  a  feeling  that  seemed  out  of  place,  under  all 
the  circumstances.  "  They  tell  me  she  is  a  most  charming  girl, 
and  that  she  is  a  very  great  favourite  with  your  nephew,  the 
young  gentleman  whom  I  have  styled  my  legal  vidette." 

"  Vidette  !  That  is  a  singular  term  to  be  used  by  you  /" 

"  Oh  !  you  will  remember  that  I  have  been  much  in  countries 
where  such  persons  abound.  I  must  have  caught  the  word  from 
some  of  the  young  soldiers  of  Europe.  But,  Mr.  John  Wilmeter 
is  an  admirer  of  the  young  lady  you  have  named?" 


256  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  I  hope  he  is.  I  know  of  no  one  with  whom  I  think  ha 
would  be  more  likely  to  be  happy." 

Dunscomb  spoke  earnestly,  and  at  such  times  his  manner  wag 
singularly  sincere  and  impressive.  It  was  this  appearance  of 
feeling  and  nature  that  gave  him  the  power  he  possessed  over 
juries ;  and  it  may  be  said  to  have  made  no  small  part  of  hia 
fortune.  Mary  Monson  seemed  to  be  surprised ;  and  she  fastened 
her  remarkable  eyes  on  the  uncle,  in  a  way  that  might  have 
admitted  of  different  interpretations.  Her  lips  moved  as  if  she 
spoke  to  herself;  and  the  smile  that  succeeded  was  both  mild 
and  sad. 

"  To  be  sure,"  added  the  prisoner,  slowly,  "  my  information 
is  not  on  the  very  best  authority,  coming,  as  it  does,  from  a  ser 
vant —  but  Marie  Moulin  is  both  discreet  and  observant." 

"  She  is  tolerably  well  qualified  to  speak  of  Anna  Updyke, 
having  seen  her  almost  daily  for  the  last  two  years.  But,  we  are 
all  surprised  that  you  should  know  anything  of  this  young  wo 
man." 

"  I  know  her  precisely  as  she  is  known  to  your  niece  and  Miss 
Updyke  —  in  other  words,  as  a  maid  who  is  much  esteemed  by 
those  she  serves  —  but,"  apparently  wishing  to  change  the  dis 
course  —  "  we  are  forgetting  the  purpose  of  your  visit,  all  this 
time,  Mr.  Dunscomb.  Do  me  the  favour  to  write  your  address 
in  town,  and  that  of  Dr.  McBrain  on  this  card,  and  we  will  pro 
ceed  to  business." 

Dunscomb  did  as  desired,  when  he  opened  on  the  details  that 
were  the  object  of  his  little  journey.  As  had  been  the  case  in 
all  his  previous  interviews  with  her,  Mary  Monson  surprised  him 
with  the  coolness  with  which  she  spoke  of  an  issue  that  involved 
her  own  fate,  for  life  or  for  death.  While  she  carefully  abstained 
from  making  any  allusion  to  circumstances  that  might  betray 
her  previous  history,  she  shrunk  from  no  inquiry  that  bore  on 
the  acts  of  which  she  had  been  accused.  Every  question  put  by 


THE  WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  257 

Dunseomb  that  related  to  the  murders  and  the  arson,  was  an 
swered  frankly  and  freely,  there  being  no  wish  apparent  to  con- 
ceal  the  minutest  circumstance.  She  made  several  exceedingly 
shrewd  and  useful  suggestions  on  the  subject  of  the  approaching 
trial,  pointing  out  defects  in  the  testimony  against  her,  and  rea 
soning  with  singular  acuteness  on  particular  facts  that  were 
known  to  be  much  relied  on  by  the  prosecution.  We  shall  not 
reveal  these  details  any  further  in  this  stage  of  our  narrative, 
for  they  will  necessarily  appear  at  length  in  our  subsequent 
pages ;  but  shall  confine  ourselves  to  a  few  of  those  remarks  that 
may  be  better  given  at  present. 

"I  do  not  know,  Mr.  Dunscomb/'  Mary  Monson  suddenly 
said,  while  the  subject  of  her  trial  was  yet  under  discussion, 
"  that  I  have  ever  mentioned  to  you  the  fact  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Goodwin  were  not  happy  together.  One  would  think,  from  wha-t 
was  said  at  the  time  of  the  inquest,  that  they  were  a  very  affec 
tionate  and  contented  couple ;  but  my  own  observation,  during 
the  short  time  I  was  under  their  roof,  taught  me  better.  The 
husband  drank,  and  the  wife  was  avaricious  and  very  quarrelsome. 
I  am  afraid,  sir,  there  are  few  really  happy  couples  to  be  found 
on  earth  I" 

"  If  you  knew  McBrain  better,  you  would  not  say  that,  my 
dear  Miss  Monson,"  answered  the  counsellor  with  a  sort  of  glee — 
"  there  's  a  husband  for  you !  —  a  fellow  who  is  not  only  happy 
with  one  wife,  but  who  is  happy  with  three,  as  he  will  tell  you 
himself." 

"  Not  all  at  the  same  time,  I  hope,  sir?" 

Dunscomb  did  justice  to  his  friend's  character,  by  relating  how 
the  matter  really  stood ;  after  which  he  asked  permission  to  in 
troduce  Anna  Updyke.  Mary  Monson  seemed  startled  at  this 
request,  and  asked  several  questions,  which  induced  her  counsel 
to  surmise  that  she  was  fearful  of  being  recognised.  Nor  was 
Dunscomb  pleased  with  all  the  expedients  adopted  by  his  client, 


258  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

in  order  to  extract  information  from  him.  He  thought  they 
slightly  indicated  cunning,  a  quality  that  he  might  be  said  to 
abhor.  Accustomed  as  he  was  to  all  the  efforts  of  ingenuity  in 
illustrating  a  principle  or  maintaining  a  proposition,  he  had 
always  avoided  everything  like  sophistry  and  falsehood.  This 
weakness  on  the  part  of  Mary  Monson,  however,  was  soon  for 
gotten  in  the  graceful  manner  in  which  she  acquiesced  in  the 
wish  of  the  stranger  to  be  admitted.  The  permission  was  finally 
accorded,  as  if  an  honour  were  received,  with  the  tact  of  a  female 
and  the  easy  dignity  of  a  gentlewoman. 

Anna  Updyke  possessed  a  certain  ardour  of  character  that  had, 
more  than  once,  given  her  prudent  and  sagacious  mother  uneasi 
ness,  and  which  sometimes  led  her  into  the  commission  of  acts, 
always  innocent  in  themselves,  and  perfectly  under  the  restraint 
of  principles,  which  the  world  would  have  been  apt  to  regard  as 
imprudent.  Such,  however,  was  far  from  being  her  reputation, 
her  modesty  and  the  diffidence  with  which  she  regarded  herself, 
being  amply  sufficient  to  protect  her  from  the  common  observa 
tion,  even  while  most  beset  by  the  weakness  named.  Her  love 
for  John  Wilmeter  was  so  disinterested,  or  to  herself  so  seemed 
to  be,  that  she  fancied  she  could  even  assist  in  bringing  about 
his  union  with  another  woman,  were  that  necessary  to  his  happi 
ness.  She  believed  that  this  mysterious  stranger  was,  to  say  the 
least,  an  object  of  intense  interest  with  John,  which  soon  made 
her  an  object  of  intense  interest  with  herself;  and  each  hour 
increased  her  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  one  so  situated, 
friendless,  accused,  and  seemingly  suspended  by  a  thread  over 
an  abyss,  as  she  was.  When  she  first  made  her  proposal  to 
Dunscomb  to  be  permitted  to  visit  his  client,  the  wary  and  ex 
perienced  counsellor  strongly  objected  to  the  step.  It  was  im 
prudent,  could  lead  to  no  good  and  might  leave  an  impression 
unfavourable  to  Anna's  own  character.  But  this  advice  was 
unheeded  by  a  girl  of  Anna  Updyke's  generous  temperament. 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  259 

Quiet  and  gentle  as  she  ordinarily  appeared  to  be,  there  was  a 
deep  under-current  of  feeling  and  enthusiasm  in  her  moral  con 
stitution,  that  bore  her  onward  in  any  course  which  she  considered 
to  be  right,  with  a  total  abnegation  of  self.  This  was  a  quality 
to  lead  to  good  or  evil,  as  it  might  receive  a  direction;  and 
happily  nothing  had  yet  occurred  in  her  brief  existence  to  carry 
her  away  towards  the  latter  goal. 

Surprised  at  the  steadiness  and  warmth  with  which  his  young 
friend  persevered  in  her  request,  Dunscomb,  after  obtaining  the 
permission  of  her  mother,  and  promising  to  take  good  care  of 
his  charge,  was  permitted  to  convey  Anna  to  Biberry,  in  the 
manner  related. 

Now,  that  her  wish  was  about  to  be  gratified,  Anna  Updyke, 
like  thousands  of  others  who  have  been  more  impelled  by  im 
pulses  than  governed  by  reason,  shrank  from  the  execution  of 
her  own  purposes.  But  the  generous  ardour  revived  in  her  in 
time  to  save  appearances ;  and  she  was  admitted  by  well-meaning 
Mrs.  Gott  to  the  gallery  of  the  prison,  leaning  on  Dunscomb's 
arm,  much  as  she  might  have  entered  a  drawing-room,  in  a  regu 
lar  morning  call. 

The  meeting  between  these  two  charming  young  women  was 
frank  and  cordial,  though  slightly  qualified  by  the  forms  of  the 
world.  A  watchful  and  critical  observer  might  have  detected 
less  of  nature  in  Mary  Monson's  manner  than  in  that  of  her 
guest,  even  while  the  welcome  she  gave  her  visitor  was  not  with 
out  cordiality  and  feeling.  It  is  true  that  her  courtesy  was  more 
elaborate  and  European,  if  one  may  use  the  expression,  than  it 
is  usual  to  see  in  an  American  female,  and  her  air  was  less  ardent 
than  that  of  Anna;  but  the  last  was  highly  struck  with  her 
countenance  and  general  appearance,  and,  on  the  whole,  not 
dissatisfied  with  her  own  reception. 

The  power  of  sympathy  and  the  force  of  affinities  soon  made 
themselves  felt,  as  between  these  two  youthful  females.  Anna 


260  THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

regarded  Mary  as  a  stranger  most  grievously  wronged ;  and  for 
getting  all  that  there  was  which  was  questionable  or  mysterious 
in  her  situation,  or  remembering  it  only  to  feel  the  influence  of 
its  interest,  while  she  submitted  to  a  species  of  community  of 
feeling  with  John  Wilmeter,  as  she  fancied,  and  soon  got  to  be 
as  much  entranced  with  the  stranger  as  seemed  to  be  the  fate  of 
all  who  approached  the  circle  of  her  acquaintance.  On  the  other 
hand,  Mary  Monson  felt  a  consolation  and  gratification  in  this 
visit  to  which  she  had  long  been  a  stranger.  Good  Mrs.  Gott 
was  kind-hearted  and  a  woman,  but  she  had  no  claim  to  the  re 
finement  and  peculiar  sensibilities  of  a  lady ;  while  Marie  Moulin, 
discreet,  respectful,  even  wise  as  she  was  in  her  own  way,  was, 
after  all,  nothing  but  an  upper  servant.  The  chasm  between  the 
cultivated  and  the  uncultivated,  the  polished  and  the  unpolished, 
is  wide ;  and  the  accused  fully  appreciated  the  change,  when  one 
of  her  own  class  in  life,  habits,  associations,  and,  if  the  reader 
will,  prejudices,  so  unexpectedly  appeared  to  sympathize  with, 
and  to  console  her.  Under  such  circumstances,  three  or  four 
hours  made  the  two  fast  and  deeply-interested  friends,  on  their 
own  accounts,  to  say  nothing  of  the  effect  produced  by  the  gener 
ous  advances  of  one,  and  the  perilous  condition  of  the  other. 

Dunscomb  returned  to  town  that  evening,  leaving  Anna 
Updyke  behind  him,  ostensibly  under  the  care  of  Mrs.  Gott. 
Democracy  has  been  carried  so  far  on  the  high  road  of  ultraism 
in  New  York,  as  in  very  many  interests  to  become  the  victim  of 
its  owr.  expedients.  Perhaps  the  people  are  never  so  far  from 
exercising  a  healthful,  or  indeed,  any  authority  at  all,  as  when 
made  to  seem,  by  the  expedients  of  demagogues,  to  possess  an 
absolute  control.  It  is  necessary  merely  to  bestow  a  power  which 
it  is  impossible  for  the  masses  to  wield  with  intelligence,  in  order 
to  effect  this  little  piece  of  legerdemain  in  politics,  the  quasi 
people  in  all  such  cases  becoming  the  passive  instruments  in  the 
hands  of  their  leaders,  who  strengthen  their  own  authority  by 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  261 

this  seeming  support  of  the  majority.  In  all  cases,  however,  in 
which  the  agency  of  numbers  can  be  felt,  its  force  is  made  to 
prevail,  the  tendency  necessarily  being  to  bring  down  all  repre 
sentation  to  the  level  of  the  majority.  The  effect  of  the  change 
has  been  pretty  equally  divided  between  good  and  evil.  In  many 
cases  benefits  have  accrued  to  the  community  by  the  exercise  of 
this  direct  popular  control,  while  in  probably  quite  as  many  the 
result  has  been  exactly  the  reverse  of  that  which  was  anticipated. 
In  no  one  instance,  we  believe  it  will  be  generally  admitted,  has 
the  departure  from  the  old  practice  been  less  advantageous  than 
in  rendering  the  office  of  sheriff  elective.  Instead  of  being  a 
leading  and  independent  man,  who  has  a  pride  in  his  position, 
and  regards  the  character  of  his  county  as  he  does  his  own,  this 
functionary  has  got  to  be,  nine  times  in  ten,  a  mere  political 
mano3uvrer,  who  seeks  the  place  as  a  reward  for  party  labours, 
and  fills  it  very  much  for  his  personal  benefit,  conferring  no 
dignity  on  it  by  his  own  position  and  character,  lessening  its 
authority  by  his  want  of  the  qualities  calculated  to  increase  it, 
and,  in  a  good  many  instances,  making  it  quite  as  difficult  to  wrest 
money  from  his  hands,  as  from  those  of  the  original  debtor. 

It  is  a  consequence  of  this  state  of  things  that  the  sheriff  has 
quite  lost  all,  or  nearly  all  of  the  personal  consideration  that  was 
once  connected  with  his  office;  and  has  sunk,  in  most  of  the 
strictly  rural  counties,  into  a  gaoler,  and  the  head  of  the  active 
bailiffs.  His  object  is  altogether  money;  and  the  profit  connected 
with  the  keeping  of  the  prisoners,  now  reduced  almost  entirely 
to  felons,  the  accused,  and  persons  committed  for  misdemeanors, 
is  one  of  the  inducements  for  aspiring  to  an  office  once  so  hon* 
ourable. 

In  this  state  of  things,  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  Duns- 
comb  was  enabled  to  make  such  an  arrangement  with  Mrs.  Grott 
as  would  place  Anna  Updyke  in  a  private  room  in  the  house 
attached  to  the  gaol,  and  which  formed  the  sheriff's  dwelling. 


262  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

The  counsellor  preferred  leaving  her  with  Mrs.  Horton ;  but  to 
this  Anna  herself  objected,  both  because  she  had  taken  a  strong 
dislike  to  the  garrulous  but  shrewd  landlady,  and  because  it 
would  have  separated  her  too  much  from  the  person  she  had 
come  especially  to  console  and  sympathize  with. 

The  arrangement  made,  Dunscomb,  as  has  already  been  men 
tioned,  took  his  departure  for  town,  with  the  understanding  that 
he  was  to  return  the  succeeding  week ;  the  Circuit  and  Oyer  and 
Terminer  sitting  on  Monday;  and  the  District  Attorney,  Mr. 
Garth,  having  given  notice  to  her  counsel  that  the  indictment 
against  Mary  Monson  would  be  certainly  traversed  the  second 
day  of  the  sitting,  which  would  be  on  Tn-ewUy. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

u  Let  her  locks  be  the  reddest  that  ever  were  seen, 
And  her  eyes  may  be  e'en  any  colour  but  green : 
Be  they  light,  gray,  or  black,  their  lustre  and  hue, 
I  swear  I  've  no  choice,  only  let  her  have  two." 

The  Duenna. 

Two  days  after  this,  Dunscomb  was  in  his  library,  late  at  night, 
holding  a  brief  discourse  with  McBrain's  coachman,  who  has 
been  already  introduced  to  the  reader.  Some  orders  had  been 
given  to  the  last,  in  relation  to  another  trip  to  Biberry,  whither 
the  master  and  our  lawyer  were  to  proceed  next  day.  The  man 
was  an  old  and  indulged  servant,  and  often  took  great  liberties 
in  these  conferences.  In  this  respect  the  Americans  of  his  class 
differ  very  little  from  the  rest  of  their  fellow-creatures,  notwith 
standing  all  that  has  been  said  and  written  to  the  contrary.  They 
obey  the  impulses  of  their  characters  much  as  the  rest  of  man 
kind,  though  not  absolutely  without  some  difference  in  manner. 

"  I  s' poses,  'Squire  Dunscomb,  that  this  is  like  to  be  the  last 
journey  that  I  and  the  doctor  will  have  to  take  soon  ag'in,  in 
that  quarter,"  coolly  observed  Stephen,  when  his  master's  friend 
had  told  him  the  hour  to  be  at  the  door,  with  the  other  prepara 
tions  that  would  be  necessary;  "  unless  we  should  happen  to  be 
called  in  at  the  post  mortal." 

11  Post  morterrij  you  must  mean,  Hoof,"  a  slight  smile  flashing 
on  the  lawyer's  countenance,  and  as  quickly  disappearing.  "  So 
you  consider  it  a  settled  thing  that  my  client  is  to  be  found 
guilty?" 

(263) 


264  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOJR. 

t( That's  what  they  say,  sir;  and  things  turn  out,  in  this 
country,  pretty  much  as  they  say  aforehand.  For  my  part,  sir, 
I  never  quite  liked  the  criminal's  looks." 

"  Her  looks  !  I  do  not  know  where  you  would  go  to  find  a 
more  lovely  young  woman,  Stephen ! " 

This  was  said  with  a  vivacity  and  suddenness  that  startled  the 
coachman  a  little.  Even  Dunscomb  seemed  surprised  at  his  own 
animation,  and  had  the  grace  to  change  colour.  The  fact  was, 
that  he  too  was  feeling  the  influence  of  woman,  youthful,  lovely, 
spirited,  refined,  and  surrounded  with  difficulties.  This  was  the 
third  of  Mary  Monson's  conquests  since  her  arrest,  if  John  Wil- 
meter's  wavering  admiration  could  be  placed  in  this  category ; 
viz.,  Timms,  the  nephew,  and  the  counsellor  himself.  Neither 
was  absolutely  in  love ;  but  each  and  all  submitted  to  an  interest 
of  an  unusual  degree  in  the  person,  character  and  fortunes  of  this 
unknown  female.  Timms,  alone,  had  got  so  far  as  to  contemplate 
a  marriage ;  the  idea  having  crossed  his  mind  that  it  might  be 
almost  as  useful  as  popularity,  to  become  the  husband  of  one 
possessed  of  so  much  money. 

"  I  '11  not  deny  her  good  looks,  ' Squire,"  returned  Stephen 
Hoof — or  Stephen  Huff,  as  he  called  himself — "but  it's  her 
bad  looks  that  isn't  so  much  to  my  fancy.  Vhy,  sir,  once  the 
doctor  had  a  horse  that  was  agreeable  enough  to  the  eye,  having 
a  good  colour  and  most  of  the  p'ints,  but  who  wasn't  no  traveller, 
not  a  bit  on't.  One  that  know'd  the  animal  could  see  where  the 
fault  lay,  the  fetlock  j'int  being  oncommon  longish;  and  that's 
what  I  call  good  looks  and  bad  looks." 

"  You  mean,  Stephen,"  said  Dunscomb,  who  had  regained  all 
his  sangfroid,  "that  Mary  Monson  has  a  bad-looking  ankle,  I 
suppose,  wherein  I  think  you  miserably  mistaken.  No  matter ; 
she  will  not  have  to  travel  under  your  lash  very  far.  But,  how 
is  it  with  the  reporters  ?  —  Do  you  see  any  more  of  your  friend 
that  asks  so  many  questions?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  26ft 

•"  They  be  an  axing  set,  '  Squire,  if  anybody  can  be  so  called," 
returned  Stephen,  grinning.  "  Would  you  think  it,  sir  ?  —  one 
day  when  I  was  a  comin'  in  from  Timbully  empty,  one  on  ?em 
axed  me  for  a  ride  !  a  chap  as  hadn't  his  foot  in  a  reg'lar  private 
eoach  since  he  was  born,  a  wantin'  to  drive  about  in  a  wehicle  as 
well  known  as  Doctor  McBrain's  best  carriage!  Them's  the 
sort  of  chaps  that  spreads  all  the  reports  that 's  going  up  and 
down  the  land,  they  tell  me." 

41  They  do  their  share  of  it,  Stephen ;  though  there  are  enough 
to  help  them  who  do  not  openly  belong  to  their  corps.  Well  ; 
what  does  your  acquaintance  want  to  know  now  ? " 

"  Oncommon  curious,  'Squire,  about  the  bones.  He  axed  me 
more  than  forty  questions ;  what  we  thought  of  them ;  and  about 
their  being  male  or  female  bones;  and  how  we  know'd;  and  a 
great  many  more  sich  matters.  I  answered  him  accordin'  to  my 
abilities;  and  so  he  made  an  article  on  the  subject,  and  has  sent 
me  the  papers." 

"  An  article  !  Concerning  Mary  Monson,  and  on  your  infor 
mation?" 

"  Sartain,  sir ;  and  the  bones.  Vhy  they  cut  articles  out  of 
much  narrower  cloth,  I  can  tell  you,  'Squire.  There 's  the  cooks, 
and  chambermaids,  and  vaiters  about  town,  none  of  vich  can  hold 
up  their  heads  with  a  reg'lar,  long-established  physician's  coach 
man,  who  goes  far  ahead  of  even  an  omnibus  driver  in  public 
estimation,  as  you  must  know,  'Squire  —  but  such  sort  of  folks 
furnish  many  an  article  for  the  papers  now-a-days  —  yes,  and 
articles  that  ladies  and  gentlemen  read." 

"  That  is  certainly  a  singular  source  of  useful  knowledge  — 
one  must  hope  they  are  well-grounded,  or  they  will  soon  cease 
to  be  ladies  and  gentlemen  at  all.  Have  you  the  paper  about 
you,  Stephen?" 

Hoof  handed  the  lawyer  a  journal  folded  with  a  paragraph  in 

12 


•266  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

view  that  was  so  much  thumbed  and  dirtied,  it  was  not  very  easj 
to  read  it. 

"  We  understand  that  the  trial  of  Mary  Monson,  for  the  mur 
der  of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin/'  said  the  c  article/  "  will 
come  off  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Dukes,  at  a  very  early  day 
Strong  attempts  have  been  made  to  make  it  appear  that  the 
skeletons  found  in  the  ruins  of  Goodwin's  dwelling,  which  our 
readers  will  remember  was  burned  at  the  time  of  the  murders, 
are  not  human  bones ;  but,  we  have  been  at  great  pains  to  inves 
tigate  this  very  material  point,  and  have  no  hesitation  in  giving 
it  as  our  profound  conviction  that  it  will  be  made  to  appear  that 
these  melancholy  memorials  are  all  that  remain  of  the  excellent 
couple  who  were  so  suddenly  taken  out  of  existence.  We  do  not 
speak  lightly  on  this  subject,  having  gone  to  the  fountain-head 
for  our  facts,  as  well  as  for  our  science/' 

"  Hoof  on  McBrain !"  muttered  Dunscomb,  arching  his  brows 
— "  this  is  much  of  a  piece  with  quite  one-half  of  the  knowledge 
that  is  poured  into  the  popular  mind,  now-a-days.  Thank  you, 
Stephen ;  I  will  keep  this  paper,  which  may  be  of  use  at  the 
trial." 

"  I  thought  our  opinions  was  vorth  something  more  than  no 
thing,  sir,"  answered  the  gratified  coachman  —  "a  body  doesn't 
ride  at  all  hours,  day  and  night,  year  arter  year,  and  come  out 
where  he  started.  I  vishes  you  to  keep  that  'ere  paper,  'Squire, 
a  little  carefully,  for  it  may  be  wanted  in  the  college  where  they 
reads  all  sorts  of  things,  one  of  these  days." 

"  It  shall  be  cared  for,  my  friend  —  I  hear  some  one  at  the 
street-door  bell.  —  It  is  late  for  a  call ;  and  I  fear  Peter  has  gone 
to  bed.  See  who  is  there,  and  good  night." 

Stephen  withdrew,  the  ringing  being  repeated  a  little  impa 
tiently,  and  was  soon  at  the  street-door.  The  fellow  admitted 
the  visiters,  and  went  ruminating  homeward,  Dunscomb  main 
taining  a  very  respectable  reputation,  in  a  bachelor  point  of  view, 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  267 

for  morals.  As  for  the  lawyer  himself,  he  was  in  the  act  of 
reading  a  second  time  the  precious  opinion  expressed  in  the  jour 
nals,  when  the  door  of  his  library  opened,  a  little  hesitatingly  it 
must  be  confessed,  and  two  females  stood  on  its  threshold. 
Although  his  entirely  unexpected  visiters  were  so  much  muffled 
in  shawls  and  veils  it  was  not  possible  to  distinguish  even  the 
outlines  of  their  persons,  Dunscomb  fancied  each  was  youthful 
and  handsome,  the  instant  he  cast  his  eyes  on  them.  The  result 
showed  how  well  he  guessed. 

Throwing  aside  the  garments  that  concealed  their  forms  and 
faces,  Mary  Monson  and  Anna  Updyke  advanced  into  the  room. 
The  first  was  perfectly  self-possessed  and  brilliantly  handsome ; 
while  her  companion,  flushed  with  excitement  and  exercise,  was 
not  much  behind  her  in  this  important  particular.  Duns- 
comb  started,  and  fancied  there  was  felony,  even  in  his  hospi 
tality. 

"  You  know  how  difficult  it  is  for  me  to  travel  by  daylight," 
commenced  Mary  Monson,  in  the  most  natural  manner  in  the 
world ;  "  that,  and  the  distance  we  had  to  drive,  must  explain 
the  unseasonableness  of  this  visit.  You  told  me  once,  yourself, 
that  you  are  both  a  late  andean  early  man,  which  encouraged  me 
to  venture.  Mr.  Timms  has  written  me  a  letter  which  I  have 
thought  it  might  be  well  to  show  you.  There  it  is ;  and  when 
you  have  cast  an  eye  over  it,  we  will  speak  of  its  contents." 

"  Why,  this  is  very  much  like  a  conditional  proposal  of  mar 
riage  !"  cried  Dunscomb,  dropping  the  hand  that  held  the  letter, 
as  soon  as  he  had  read  the  first  paragraph.  "  Conditional,  so  far 
as  the  result  of  your  trial  is  concerned!" 

"  I  forgot  the  opening  of  the  epistle,  giving  very  little  thought 
to  its  purport;  though  Mr.  Timms  has  not  written  me  a  line 
lately  that  has  not  touched  on  this  interesting  subject.  A  mar 
riage  between  him  and  me  is  so  entirely  out  of  the  way  of  all 
the  possibilities,  that  I  look  upon  his  advances  as  mere  embellish- 


268  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   H3UR. 

ment.  I  have  answered  him  directly  in  the  negative  once,  and 
that  ought  to  satisfy  any  prudent  person.  They  tell  me  no  wo 
man  should  marry  a  man  she  has  once  refused ;  and  I  shall  plead 
this  as  a  reason  for  continued  obduracy." 

This  was  said  pleasantly,  and  without  the  least  appearance  of 
resentment;  but  in  a  way  to  show  she  regarded  her  attorney's  pro 
posal  as  very  much  out  of  the  beaten  track.  As  for  Dunscomb, 
he  passed  his  hand  over  his  brows,  and  read  the  rest  of  a  pretty 
long  letter  with  grave  attention.  The  purely  business  part  of 
this  communication  was  much  to  the  point;  important,  clearly 
put,  and  every  way  creditable  to  the  writer.  The  lawyer  read 
it  attentively  a  second  time,  ere  he  once  opened  his  mouth  in 
comments. 

"And  why  is  this  shown  to  me?"  he  asked,  a  little  vexed,  as 
was  seen  in  his  manner.  "  I  have  told  you  it  is  felony  to  assist 
a  prisoner  in  an  attempt  to  escape."  , 

"  I  have  shown  it  to  you,  because  I  have  not  the  remotest  in 
tention,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  to  attempt  anything  of  the  sort.  I  shall 
not  quit  my  asylum  so  easily." 

"  Then  why  are  you  here,  at  this  hour,  with  the  certainty  that 
most  of  the  night  must  be  passed  or*  the  road,  if  you  mean  to 
return  to  your  prison  ere  the  sun  reappears?" 

"  For  air,  exercise,  and  to  show  you  this  letter.  I  am  often  in 
town,  but  am  compelled,  for  more  reasons  than  you  are  acquainted 
with,  to  travel  by  night." 

"  May  I  ask  where  you  obtain  a  vehicle  to  make  these  jour- 
nies  in?" 

"  I  use  my  own  carriage,  and  trust  to  a  very  long-tried  and 
most  faithful  domestic.  I  think  Miss  Updyke  will  say  he  drove 
us  not  only  carefully,  but  with  great  speed.  On  that  score,  we 
have  no  grounds  of  complaint.  But  I  am  very  much  fatigued, 
and  must  ask  permission  to  sleep  for  an  hour.  You  have  a  draw 
ing-room,  I  take  it  for  granted,  Mr.  Dunscomb  ?" 


THE    WA)YS    OF    THE    HOUR.  269 

"  My  niece  fancies  she  has  two.  Shall  I  put  lights  in  one  of 
them?" 

"  By  no  means.  Anna  knows  the  house  as  well  as  she  does 
her  mother' s,  and  will  do  the  honours.  On  no  account  let  Miss 
Wilmeter  be  disturbed.  I  am  a  little  afraid  of  meeting  her, 
since  we  have  practised  a  piece  of  treachery  touching  Marie 
Moulin.  But,  no  matter;  one  hour  on  a  sofa,  in  a  dark  room, 
is  all  I  ask.  That  will  bring  us  to  midnight,  when  the  carriage 
will  again  be  at  the  door.  You  wish  to  see  your  mother,  my 
dear,  and  here  is  a  safe  and  very  suitable  attendant  to  accompany 
you  to  her  house  and  back  again." 

All  this  was  said  pleasantly,  but  with  a  singular  air  of  autho 
rity,  as  if  this  mysterious  being  were  accustomed  to  plan  out  and 
direct  the  movements  of  others.  She  had  her  way.  In  a  minute 
or  two  she  was  stretched  on  a  sofa,  covered  with  a  shawl,  the  door 
was  closed  on  her,  and  Dunscomb  was  on  his  way  to  Mrs. 
McBrain's  residence,  which  was  at  some  distance  from  his  own, 
with  Anna  leaning  on  his  arm. 

"  Of  course,  my  dear,"  said  the  lawyer,  as  he  and  his  beautiful 
companion  left  his  own  door  at  that  late  hour  of  the  night,  "  we 
shall  see  no  more  of  Mary  Monson?" 

"  Not  see  her  again !  I  should  be  very,  very  sorry  to  think 
that,  sir!" 

"  She  is  no  simpleton,  and  means  to  take  Timms's  advice. 
That  fellow  has  written  a  strong  letter,  in  no  expectation  of  its 
being  seen,  I  fancy,  in  which  he  points  out  a  new  source  of  dan 
ger;  and  plainly  advises  his  client  to  abscond.  I  can  see  the 
infatuation  of  love  in  this;  for  the  letter,  if  produced,  would 
bring  him  into  great  trouble." 

"  And  you  suppose,  sir,  that  Mary  Monson  intends  to  follow 
this  advice?" 

"  Beyond  a  question.  She  is  not  only  a  very  clever,  but  she 
is  a  very  cunning  woman.  This  last  quality  is  one  that  I  admire 


270  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

in  her  the  least.  I  should  be  half  in  love  with  her  myself"  — 
This  was  exactly  the  state  of  the  counsellor's  feelings  towards 
his  client,  in  spite  of  his  bravado  and  affected  discernment;  a 
woman's  charms  often  overshadowing  a  philosophy  that  is  deeper 
even  than  his  —  "  but  for  this  very  trait,  which  I  find  little  to 
my  taste.  I  take  it  for  granted  you  are  sent  home  to  be  put 
under  your  mother's  care,  where  you  properly  belong ;  and  I  am 
got  out  of  the  way  to  save  me  from  the  pains  and  penalties  of  an 
indictment  for  felony." 

"  I  think  you  do  not  understand  Mary  Monson,  uncle  Tom" — 
so  Anna  had  long  called  her  friend's  relative,  as  it  might  be  in 
anticipation  of  the  time  when  the  appellation  would  be  correct — 
"  She  is  not  the  sort  of  person  to  do  as  you  suggest ;  but  would 
rather  make  it  a  point  of  honour  to  remain,  and  face  any  accusa 
tion  whatever. " 

"  She  must  have  nerves  of  steel  to  confront  justice  in  a  case 
like  her's,  and  in  the  present  state  of  public  feeling  in  Duke's. 
Justice  is  a  very  pretty  thing  to  talk  about,  my  dear ;  but  we  old 
practitioners  know  that  it  is  little  more,  in  human  hands,  than 
the  manipulations  of  human  passions.  Of  late  years,  the  out 
siders — outside  barbarians  they  might  very  properly  be  termed — 
have  almost  as  much  to  do  with  the  result  of  any  warmly-con 
tested  suit,  as  the  law  and  evidence.  '  Who  is  on  the  jury  ?'  is 
the  first  question  asked  now-a-days ;  not  what  are  the  facts.  I 
have  told  all  this,  very  plainly,  to  Mary  Monson " 

"To  induce  her  to  fly?"  asked  Anna,  prettily,  and  a  little 
smartly. 

"  Not  so  much  that,  as  to  induce  her  to  consent  to  an  applica 
tion  for  delay.  The  judges  of  this  country  are  so  much  over 
worked,  so  little  paid,  and  usually  are  so  necessitous,  that  almost 
any  application  for  delay  is  granted.  Business  at  chambers  is 
sadly  neglected ;  for  that  is  done  in  a  corner,  and  does  not  address 
itself  to  the  public  eye,  or  seek  public  eulogiums;  but  he  ig 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  271 

thought  the  cleverest  fellow  who  will  soonest  sweep  out  a  crowded 
calender.  Causes  are  tried  by  tallow  candles  until  midnight, 
with  half  the  jurors  asleep ;  and  bard-working  men,  accustomed 
to  be  asleep  by  eight  each  night,  are  expected  to  keep  their 
thoughts  and  minds  active  in  the  face  of  all  these  obstacles." 

"  Do  you  tell  me  this,  uncle  Tom,  in  the  expectation  that  I 
am  to  understand  it?" 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  child ;  but  my  heart  is  full  of  the  failing 
justice  of  the  land.  We  shout  hosannas  in  praise  of  the  insti 
tutions,  while  we  shut  our  eyes  to  the  gravest  consequences  that 
are  fast  undermining  us  in  the  most  important  of  all  our  interests. 
But  here  we  are  already ;  I  had  no  notion  we  had  walked  so  fast. 
Yes,  there  is  papa  McBrain's  one-horse  vehicle,  well  emptied  of 
its  contents,  I  hope,  by  a  hard  day's  work." 

"  A  doctor's  life  must  be  so  laborious !"  exclaimed  the  pretty 
Anna.  "  I  think  nothing  could  tempt  me  to  marry  a  physician." 

a  It  is  well  a  certain  lady  of  our  acquaintance  was  not  of  your 
way  of  thinking,"  returned  Dunscomb,  laughing;  for  his  good 
humour  always  returned  when  he  could  give  his  friend  a  rub  on 
liis  matrimonial  propensities,  "else  would  McBrain  have  been 
troubled  to  get  his  last  and  best.  Never  mind,  my  dear;  he  is 
a  good-natured  fellow,  and  will  make  a  very  kind  papa." 

Anna  made  no  reply,  but  rang  the  bell  a  little  pettishly ;  for 
no  child  likes  to  have  a  mother  married  a  second  time,  there  be 
ing  much  greater  toleration  for  fathers,  and  asked  her  companion 
in.  As  the  wife  of  a  physician  in  full  "practice,  the  bride  had 
already  changed  many  of  her  long-cherished  habits.  In  this  re 
spect,  however,  she  did  no  more  than  follow  the  fortunes  of 
woman,  who  so  cheerfully  makes  any  sacrifice  in  behalf  of  him 
she  loves.  If  men  were  only  one-half  as  disinterested,  as  self- 
denying,  and  as  true  as  the  other  sex,  in  all  that  relates  to  the 
affections,  what  a  blessed  state  would  that  of  matrimony  be ! 
Still,  there  are  erring,  and  selfish,  and  domineering,  and  capri- 


272  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

cious,  vain,  heartless  and  self-willed  females,  whom  nature  neve* 
intended  for  married  life ;  and  who  are  guilty  of  a  species  of 
profanation,  when  they  stand  up  and  vow  to  love,  honour  and 
obey  their  husbands.  Many  of  these  disregard  their  solemn 
pledges,  made  at  the  altar,  and  under  the  immediate  invocation 
of  the  Deity,  as  they  would  disregard  a  promise  made  in  jest, 
and  think  no  more  of  the  duties  and  offices  that  are  so  peculiarly 
the  province  of  their  sex,  than  of  the  passing  and  idle  promises 
of  vanity.  But,  if  such  women  exist,  and  that  they  do  our  daily 
experience  proves,  they  are  as  exceptions  to  the  great  law  of 
female  faith,  which  is  tenderness  and  truth.  They  are  not 
women  in  character,  whatever  they  may  be  in  appearance ;  but 
creatures  in  the  guise  of  a  sex  that  they  discredit  and  caricature. 

Mrs.  McBrain  was  not  a  person  of  the  disposition  just  de 
scribed.  She  was  gentle  and  good,  and  bid  fair  to  make  the 
evening  of  her  second  husband's  days  very  happy.  Sooth  to 
say,  she  was  a  good  deal  in  love,  notwithstanding  her  time  of 
life,  and  the  still  more  mature  years  of  the  bridegroom ;  and  had 
been  so  much  occupied  with  the  duties  and  cares  that  belonged 
to  her  recent  change  of  condition,  as  to  be  a  little  forgetful  of 
her  daughter.  At  no  other  period  of  their  joint  lives  would  she 
have  permitted  this  beloved  child  to  be  absent  from  her,  under 
such  circumstances,  without  greater  care  for  her  safety  and  com 
forts  ;  but  there  is  a  honey-week,  as  well  as  a  honey-moon ;  and 
the  intenseness  of  its  feelings  might  very  well  disturb  the  ordi 
nary  round  of  even  maternal  duties.  Glad  enough,  however, 
was  she  now  to  see  her  daughter ;  when  Anna,  blooming,  and 
smiling,  and  blushing,  flew  into  her  mother's  arms. 

"  There  she  is,  widow —  Mrs.  Updyke  —  I  beg  pardon — mar 
ried  woman,  and  Mrs.  McBrain,"  cried  Dunscomb  —  "Ned  is 
such  an  uneasy  fellow,  he  keeps  all  his  friends  in  a  fever  with 
his  emotions,  and  love,  and  matrimony ;  and  that  j.ust  suits  him, 
•a  he  has  only  to  administer  a  pill  and  set  all  right  again.  But, 


THE  WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  273 

there  she  is,  safe  and  unmarried,  thank  heaven ;  which  is  always 
a  sort  of  consolation  to  me.  She 's  back  again,  and  you  will  do 
well  to  keep  her,  until  my  nephew,  Jack,  comes  to  ask  permis 
sion  to  carry  her  off,  for  good  and  all." 

Anna  blushed  more  deeply  than  ever,  while  the  mother  smiled 
and  embraced  her  child.  Then  succeeded  questions  and  answers, 
until  Mrs.  McBrain  had  heard  the  whole  story  of  her  daughter's 
intercourse  with  Mary  Monson,  so  far  as  it  has  been  made  known 
to  the  reader.  Beyond  that,  Anna  did  not  think  herself  autho 
rized  to  go ;  or,  if  she  made  any  revelation,  it  would  be  premature 
for  us  to  repeat  it. 

"  Here  we  are,  all  liable  to  be  indicted  for  felony,"  cried 
Dunscomb,  as  soon  as  the  young  lady  had  told  her  tale.  "  Timms 
will  be  hanged,  in  place  of  his  client ;  and  we  three  will  have 
cells  at  Sing  Sing,  as  accessaries  before  the  act.  Yes,  my  dear 
bride,  you  are  what  the  law  terms  a  l  particeps  criminis,'  and 
may  look  out  for  the  sheriff  before  you  are  a  week  older." 

"And  why  all  this,  Mr.  Dunscomb?"  demanded  the  half- 
amused,  half-frightened  Mrs.  McBrain. 

"  For  aiding  and  abetting  a  prisoner  in  breaking  gaol.  Mary 
Monson  is  off,  beyond  a  question.  She  lay  down  in  Sarah's 
drawing-room,  pretending  to  be  wearied,  ten  minutes  since ;  and 
has  no  doubt  got  through  with  her  nap  already,  and  is  on  her 
way  to  Canada,  or  Texas,  or  California,  or  some  other  out-of-the- 
way  country;  Cuba,  for  aught  I  know." 

"Is  this  so,  think  you,  Anna?" 

"  I  do  not,  mamma.  So  far  from  believing  Mary  Monson  to 
be  flying  to  any  out-of-the-way  place,  I  have  no  doubt  that  we 
shall  find  her  fast  asleep  on  Mr.  Dunscomb's  sofa." 

"  Uncle  Dunscomb's  sofa,  if  you  please,  young  lady/' 

"  No,  sir ;  I  shall  call  you  uncle  no  longer,"  answered  Anna, 
blushing  scarlet  — •• "  until  —  until " 

"  You  have  a  legal  claim  to  the  use  of  the  word.  Well,  that 
12* 


274  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

will  come  in  due  time,  I  trust ;  if  not,  it  shall  be  my  <sare  to  sea 
you  have  a  title  to  a  still  dearer  appellation.  There,  widow-— 
Mrs.  McBrain,  I  mean  —  I  think  that  will  do.  But,  seriously, 
child,  you  cannot  imagine  that  Mary  Monson  means  ever  to  re 
turn  to  her  prison,  there  to  be  tried  for  life  ?" 

"  If  there  is  faith  in  woman,  she  does,  sir ;  else  would  I  not 
have  exposed  myself  to  the  risk  of  accompanying  her." 

"In  what  manner  did  you  come  to  town,  Anna?1'  asked  the 
anxious  mother.  "  Are  you  not  now  at  the  mercy  of  some  driver 
of  a  hackney-coach,  or  of  some  public  cabman  ?" 

"  I  understand  that  the  carriage  which  was  in  waiting  for  us, 
half  a  mile  from  Biberry,  is  Mrs.  Monson's— — " 

"Mrs.!"  interrupted  Dunscomb  —  "Is  she,  then,  a  married 
woman?" 

Anna  looked  down,  trembled,  and  was  conscious  of  having  be 
trayed  a  secret.  So  very  precious  to  herself  had  been  the  com 
munication  of  Marie  Moulin  on  this  point,  that  it  was  ever 
uppermost  in  her  thoughts ;  and  it  had  now  escaped  her  under 
an  impulse  she  could  not  control.  It  was  too  late,  however,  to 
retreat ;  and  a  moment's  reflection  told  her  it  would  every  way 
be  better  to  tell  all  she  knew,  on  this  one  point,  at  least. 

This  was  soon  done;  for  even  Marie  Moulin's  means  of  in 
formation  were  somewhat  limited.  This  Swiss  had  formerly 
known  the  prisoner  by  another  name ;  though  what  name,  she 
would  not  reveal.  This  was  in  Europe,  where  Marie  had  actually 
passed  three  years  in  this  mysterious  person's  employment.  Marie 
had  even  come  to  America,  in  consequence  of  this  connection,  at 
the  death  of  her  own  mother;  but,  unable  to  find  her  former 
mistress,  had  taken  service  with  Sarah  Wilmeter.  Mary  Monson 
was  single  and  unbetrothed  when  she  left  Europe.  Such  was 
Marie  Moulin's  statement.  But  it  was  understood  she  was  now 
married ;  though  to  whom,  she  could  not  say.  If  Anna  Updyka 
knew  more  than  this,  she  did  not  reveal  it  at  that  interview. 


THE  WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  275 

u  Ah !  Here  is  another  case  of  a  wife's  elopement  from  her 
tmsband,"  interrupted  Dunscomb,  as  soon  as  Anna  reached  this 
point  in  her  narration  j  "  and  I  dare  say  something  or  other  will 
be  found  in  this  wretched  Code  to  uphold  her  in  her  disobedience. 
You  have  done  well  to  marry,  Mrs.  McBrain  j  for,  according  to 
the  modern  opinions  in  these  matters,  instead  of  providing  your 
self  with  a  lord  and  master,  you  have  only  engaged  an  upper- 
servant." 

"  No  true-hearted  woman  can  ever  look  upon  her  husband  in 
so  degrading  a  light,"  answered  the  bride,  with  spirit. 

"  That  will  do  for  three  days ;  but  wait  to  the  end  of  three 
years.  There  are  runaway  wives  enough,  at  this  moment,  roam 
ing  up  and  down  the  land,  setting  the  laws  of  God  and  man  at 
defiance,  and  jingling  their  purses,  when  they  happen  to  have 
money,  under  their  lawful  husbands'  noses ;  ay,  enough  to  set 
up  a  three-tailed  bashaw !  But  this  damnable  Code  will  uphold 
them,  in  some  shape  or  other,  my  life  for  it.  One  can't  endure 
her  husband  because  he  smokes ;  another  finds  fault  with  his  not 
going  to  church  but  once  a  day ;  another  quarrels  with  him  for 
going  three  times ;  another  says  he  has  too  much  dinner-com 
pany  ;  and  another  protests  she  can't  get  a  male  friend  inside  of 
her  house.  All  these  ladies,  forgetful  as  they  are  of  their  highest 
earthly  duties,  forgetful  as  they  are  of  woman's  very  nature,  are 
the  models  of  divine  virtues,  and  lay  claim  to  the  sympathies  of 
mankind.  They  get  those  of  fools ;  but  prudent  and  reflecting 
men  shake  their  heads  at  such  wandering  deisses." 

"  You  are  severe  on  us  women,  Mr.  Dunscomb,"  said  the 
bride. 

"  Not  on  you,  my  dear  Mrs.  McBrain  —  never  a  syllable  on 
you.  But  go  on,  child ;  I  have  had  the  case  of  one  of  these 
vagrant  wives  in  my  hands,  and  know  how  mistaken  has  been 
the  disposition  to  pity  her.  Men  lean  to  the  woman's  side ;  but 
the  frequency  of  the  abuse  is  beginning  to  open  the  eyes  of  the 


276  THE    WAYS    OP'    THE   HOUR. 

public.  Go  on,  Anna  dear,  and  let  us  hear  it  all  —  or  all  joti 
have  to  tell  us." 

Very  little  remained  to  be  related.  Marie  Moulin,  herself, 
knew  very  little  of  that  which  had  occurred  since  her  separation 
from  her  present  mistress  in  France.  She  did  make  one  state 
ment,  however,  that  Anna  had  deemed  very  important;  but 
which  she  felt  bound  to  keep  as  a  secret,  in  consequence  of  the 
injunctions  received  from  the  Swiss. 

"  I  should  have  a  good  deal  to  say  about  this  affair/'  observed 
Dunscomb,  when  his  beautiful  companion  was  done,  "  did  I  be 
lieve  that  we  shall  find  Mary  Monson  on  our  return  to  my  house, 
In  that  case,  I  should  say  to  you,  my  dear  widow — Mrs.  McBrain, 
I  mean  —  the  devil  take  that  fellow  Ned,  be  '11  have  half  the 
women  in  town  bearing  his  name  before  he  is  done — Well,  Hea 
ven  be  praised !  he  can  neither  marry  me,  nor  give  me  a  step 
father,  let  him  do  his  very  best.  There  's  comfort  in  that  consi 
deration,  at  any  rate." 

"  You  were  about  to  tell  us  what  you  would  do/'  put  in  the 
bride,  slightly  vexed,  yet  too  well  assured  of  the  counsellor's 
attachment  to  her  husband  to  feel  angry — "  you  mupt  know  how 
much  value  we  all  give  to  your  advice," 

"  I  was  about  to  say  that  Anna  should  not  return  to  this 
mysterious  convict  —  no,  she  is  not  yet  convicted,  but  she  is  in 
dicted,  and  that  is  something — but  return  she  should  not,  were 
there  the  least  chance  of  our  finding  Lerr  OB.  OUT  return  home 
Let  her  go,  then,  and  satisfy  her  curiosity,  and  pass  the  night 
with  Sarah,  who  must  be  through  with  her  first  nap  by  this 
time." 

Anna  urged  her  mother  to  consent  to  this  arrangement,  putting 
forward  her  engagement  with  Mary  Monson,  not  to-  desert  her. 
McBrain  driving  to  the  door,  from  paying  his  last  visit  that 
night,  his  wife  gave  her  assent  to  the  proposition ;  the  tenderest 
mother  occasionally  permitting  another  and  more  powerful  feeling 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  277 

to  usurp  the  place  of  maternal  care.  Mrs.  McBrain,  it  must  Le 
admitted,  thought  more  of  the  bridegroom,  sixty  as  he  was,  than 
of  her  charming  daughter;  nor  was  she  yet  quite  free  from  the 
awkwardness  that  ever  accompanies  a  new  connection  of  this  na 
ture  when  there  are  grown-up  children  \  more  especially  on  tho 
part  of  the  female.  Then  Anna  had  communicated  to  her  mo 
ther  a  most  material  circumstance,  which  it  does  not  suit  our 
present  purpose  to  reveal. 

"  Now  for  a  dozen  pair  of  gloves  that  we  do  not  find  Mary 
Monson/''  said  the  lawyer,  as  he  walked  smartly  towards  his  own. 
residence,  with  Anna  Updyke  under  his  arm. 

"  Done  !"  cried  the  young  lady  —  aand  you  shall  pay  if  you 
lose." 

"As  bound  in  honour.  Peter"  —  the  grey-headed  black  who 
answered  the  summons  to  the  door — "  will  be  glad  enough  to  see 
us ;  for  the  old  fellow  is  not  accustomed  to  let  his  young  rogue 
of  a  master  in  at  midnight,  with  a  charming  young  woman  under 
his  arm." 

Anna  Updyke  was  right.  Mary  Monson  was  in  a  deep  sleep 
on  the  sofa.  So  profound  was  her  rest,  there  was  a  hesitation 
about  disturbing  her ;  though  twelve,  the  hour  set  for  the  return 
of  the  carriage  to  Biberry,  was  near.  For  a  few  minutes  Duns- 
comb  conversed  with  his  agreeable  companion  in  his  own 
library. 

"  If  Jack  knew  of  your  being  in  the  house,  he*  would  never 
forgive  my  not  having  him  called." 

"  I  shall  have  plenty  of  occasions  for  seeing  Jack,"  returned 
the  young  lady,  colouring.  "  You  know  how  assiduous  he  is  in 
this  cause,  and  how  devoted  he  is  to  the  prisoner." 

"  Do  not  run  away  with  any  such  notion,  child ;  Jack  is  yours, 
heart  and  soul." 

"  Hist  —  there  is  the  carriage ;  Mary  must  be  called." 

Away  went  Anna,  laughing,  blushing,  but  with  tears  in  her 


278  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

eyes.     In  a  minute  M»ry  Monson  made  her  appearance,  some 
what  refreshed  and  calmed  by  her  short  nap, 

"  Make  no  excuse  for  waking  me,  Anna,"  said  this  unaccount 
able  woman.  "  We  can  both  sleep  on  the  road.  The  carriage  is 
as  easy  as  a  cradle ;  and,  luckily,  the  roads  are  quite  good." 
"Still  they  lead  to  a  prison,  Mrs.  Monson!" 
The  prisoner  smiled,  and  seemed  to  be  lost  in  thought.  It 
was  the  first  time  any  of  her  new  acquaintances  had  ever  ad 
dressed  her  as  a  married  woman;  though  Marie  Moulin,  with 
the  exception  of  her  first  exclamation  at  their  recent  meeting, 
had  invariably  used  the  appellation  of  Madame.  All  this,  how 
ever,  was  soon  forgotten  in  the  leave-taking.  Dunscomb  thought 
he  had  seldom  seen  a  female  of  higher  tone  of  manners,  or  greater 
personal  charms,  than  this  singular  and  mysterious  young  woman 
appeared  to  be,  as  she  curtsied  her  adieu. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

'*  What  then  avail  impeachments,  or  the  law's 
Severest  condemnation  while  the  queen 
May  snatch  him  from  the  uplifted  hand  of  justice  ?" 

Earl  of  Essex. 

PERHAPS  the  most  certain  proof  that  any  people  can  give  of  a 
high  moral  condition,  is  in  the  administration  of  justice.  Abso 
lute  infallibility  is  unattainable  to  men ;  but  there  are  wide  chasms 
in  right  and  wrong,  between  the  legal  justice  of  one  state  of  so 
ciety  and  that  of  another.  As  the  descendants  of  Englishmen, 
we  in  this  country  are  apt  to  ascribe  a  higher  tone  of  purity  to 
the  courts  of  the  mother  country,  than  to  those  of  any  other 
European  nation.  In  this  we  may  be  right,  without  inferring 
the  necessity  of  believing  that  even  the  ermine  of  England  is 
tpotless  ;  for  it  can  never  be  forgotten  that  Bacon  and  Jeffries 
once  filled  her  highest  judicial  seats,  to  say  nothing  of  many 
others,  whose  abuses  of  their  trusts  have  doubtless  been  lost  in 
their  comparative  obscurity.  Passing  from  the  parent  to  its  off 
spring,  the  condition  of  American  justice,  so  far  as  it  is  dependent 
on  the  bench,  is  a  profound  moral  anomaly.  It  would  seem  that 
every  known  expedient  of  man  has  been  resorted  to,  to  render  it 
corrupt,  feeble,  and  ignorant;  yet  he  would  be  a  hardy,  not  to 
say  an  audacious  commentator,  who  should  presume  to  affirm  that 
it  is  not  entitled  to  stand  in  the  very  foremost  ranks  of  human 
integrity. 

Ill  paid,  without  retiring  pensions,  with  nothing  to  expect  in 
the  way  of  family  and  hereditary  honours  and  dignities;  with 

(279) 


280  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

little,  in  short,  either  in  possession  or  in  prospect,  to  grve  any 
particular  inducement  to  be  honest,  it  is  certain  that,  as  a  whole, 
the  judges  of  this  great  republic  may  lay  claim  to  be  classed 
among  the  most  upright  of  which  history  furnishes  any  account. 
Unhappily,  popular  caprice,  and  popular  ignorance,  have  been 
brought  to  bear  on  the  selection  of  the  magistrates,  of  late ;  and  it 
is  easy  to  predict  the  result,  which,  like  that  on  the  militia,  is  soon 
to  pull  down  even  this  all-important  machinery  of  society  to  the 
level  of  the  common  mind. 

Not  only  have  the  obvious  and  well-earned  inducements  to 
keep  men  honest — competence,  honours,  and  security  in  office — 
been  recklessly  thrown  away  by  the  open  hand  of  popular  delu 
sion,  but  all  the  minor  expedients  by  which  those  who  cannot 
think  might  be  made  to  feel,  have  been  laid  aside,  leaving  the 
machinery  of  justice  as  naked  as  the  hand.  Although  the  colonial 
system  was  never  elaborated  in  these  last  particulars,  there  were 
^ome  of  its  useful  and  respectable  remains,  down  as  late  as  the 
commencement  of  the  present  century.  The  sheriff  appeared 
with  his  sword,  the  judge  was  escorted  to  and  from  the  court 
house  to  his  private  dwelling  with  some  show  of  attention  and 
respect,  leaving  a  salutary  impression  of  authority  on  the  ordinary 
observer.  All  this  has  disappeared.  The  judge  slips  into  the 
county  town  almost  unknown ;  lives  at  an  inn  amid  a  crowd  of 
lawyers,  witnesses,  suitors,  jurors  and  horse-shedders,  as  Timms 
calls  them;  finds  his  way  to  the  bench  as  best  he  may;  and 
seems  to  think  that  the  more  work  he  can  do  in  the  shortest 
time  is  the  one  great  purpose  of  his  appointment.  Nevertheless, 
these  men,  as  yet,  are  surprisingly  incorrupt  and  intelligent. 
How  long  it  will  remain  so,  no  once  can  predict;  if  it  be  for  a 
human  life,  however,  the  working  of  the  problem  will  demon 
strate  the  fallibility  of  every  appreciation  of  human  motives 
One  bad  consequence  of  the  depreciation  of  the  office  of  a  ma 
gistrate,  however,  has  long  be^n  apparent,  in  the  lessening  of  the 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  281 

influence  of  the  judge  on  the  juries ;  the  power  that  alone  renders 
the  latter  institution  even  tolerable.  This  is  putting  an  irrespon 
sible,  usually  an  ignorant,  and  often  a  corrupt  arbiter,  in  the 
judgment-seat,  in  lieu  of  the  man  of  high  qualities  for  which  it 
was  alone  intended. 

The  circuit  and  oyer  and  terminer  for  Duke's  presented  no 
thing  noyel  in  its  bench,  its  bar,  its  jurors,  and  we  might  add  its 
witnesses.  The  first  was  a  cool-headed,  dispassionate  man,  with 
a  very  respectable  amount  of  legal  learning  and  experience,  and 
a  perfectly  fair  character.  No  one  suspected  him  of  acting  wrong 
from  evil  motives;  and  when  he  did  err,  it  was  ordinarily  from 
the  pressure  of  business ;  though,  occasionally,  he  was  mistaken, 
because  the  books  could  not  foresee  every  possible  phase  of  a 
case.  The  bar  was  composed  of  plain,  hard-working  men,  mate 
rially  above  the  level  of  Timms,  except  in  connection  with  mo 
ther-wit;  better  educated,  better  mannered,  and,  as  a  whole,  of 
materially  higher  origin ;  though,  as  a  body,  neither  profoundly 
.  learned  nor  of  very  refined  deportment.  Nevertheless,  these 
persons  had  a  very  fair  portion  of  all  the  better  qualities  of  the 
northern  professional  men.  They  were  shrewd,  quick  in  the 
application  of  their  acquired  knowledge,  ready  in  their  natural 
resources,  and  had  that  general  aptitude  for  affairs  that  probally 
is  the  fruit  of  a  practice  that  includes  all  the  different  branches 
of  the  profession.  Here  and  there  was  a  usurer  and  extortioner 
among  them ;  a  fellow  who  disgraced  his  calling  by  running  up 
unnecessary  bills  of  cost,  by  evading  the  penal  statutes  passed  to 
prevent  abuses  of  this  nature,  and  by  cunning  attempts  to  obtain 
more  for  the  use  of  his  money  than  the  law  sanctioned.  But 
such  was  not  the  general  character  of  the  Duke's  county  bar, 
which  was  rather  to  be  censured  for  winking  at  irregular  pro 
ceedings  out  of  doors,  for  brow-beating  witnesses,  and  for  regard 
ing  the  end  so  intensely  as  not  always  to  be  particular  in  refereneo 
to  the  means,  than  for  such  gross  and  positively  illegal  and  op- 


282  THE   WAYS    OP    THE   HOUR. 

pressive  measures  as  those  just  mentioned.  As  for  the  jurors, 
they  were  just  what  that  ancient  institution  might  be  supposed 
to  be,  in  a  country  where  so  many  of  the  lody  of  the  people  are 
liable  to  be  summoned.  An  unusually  large  proportion  of  theso 
men,  when  all  the  circumstances  are  considered,  were  perhaps  as 
fit  to  be  thus  employed  as  could  be  obtained  from  the  body  of  the 
community  of  any  country  on  earth ;  but  a  very  serious  number 
were  altogether  unsuited  to  perform  the  delicate  duties  of  their 
station.  Fortunately,  the  ignorant  are  very  apt  to  be  influenced 
by  the  more  intelligent,  in  cases  of  this  nature ;  and  by  this  exer 
cise  of  a  very  natural  power,  less  injustice  is  committed  than 
might  otherwise  occur.  Here,  however,  is  the  opening  for  the 
4t  horse-shedding"  and  "  pillowing,"  of  which  Timms  has  spoken, 
and  of  which  so  much  use  is  made  around  every  country  court 
house  in  the  state.  This  is  the  crying  evil  of  the  times ;  and, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  enormous  abuse  which  is  rendering 
a  competition  in  news  a  regular,  money-getting  occupation,  one 
that  threatens  to  set  at  defiance  all  laws,  principles  and  facts. 

A  word  remains  to  be  said  of  the  witnesses.  Perhaps  the 
rarest  thing  connected  with  the  administration  of  justice  all  over 
the  world,  is  an  intelligent,  perfectly  impartial,  clear-headed,  dis 
criminating  witness ;  one  who  distinctly  knows  all  he  says,  fully 
appreciates  the  effect  of  his  words  on  the  jury,  and  who  has  the 
disposition  to  submit  what  he  knows  solely  to  the  law  and  the 
evidence.  Men  of  experience  are  of  opinion  that  an  oath  usually 
extracts  the  truth.  We  think  so  too ;  but  it  is  truth  as  the  wit 
ness  understands  it;  facts  as  he  has  seen  them;  and  opinions 
that,  unconsciously  to  himself,  have  been  warped  by  reports, 
sneers  and  malice.  In  a  country  of  popular  sway  like  this,  there 
is  not  one  man  in  a  thousand,  probably,  who  has  sufficient  inde 
pendence  of  mind,  or  sufficient  moral  courage,  to  fancy  he  has 
seen  even  a  fact,  if  it  be  of  importance,  differently  from  what 
the  body  of  the  community  has  seen  it;  and  nothing  is  more 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  288 

common  than  to  find  witnesses  colouring  their  testimony,  lessen 
ing  its  force  by  feeble  statements,  or  altogether  abandoning  the 
truth,  under  this  pressure  from  without,  in  cases  of  a  nature  and 
magnitude  to  awake  a  strong  popular  feeling.  It  is  by  no  means 
uncommon,  indeed,  to  persuade  one  class  of  men,  by  means  of 
this  influence,  that  they  did  not  see  that  which  actually  occurred 
before  their  eyes,  or  that  they  did  see  that  which  never  had  an 
existence. 

Under  no  circumstances  do  men  congregate  with  less  merito 
rious  motives  than  in  meeting  in  and  around  a  court  of  justice. 
The  object  is  victory,  and  the  means  of  obtaining  it  will  not 
always  bear  the  light.  The  approaching  Circuit  and  Oyer  and 
Terniiner  of  Duke's  was  no  exception  to  the  rule ;  a  crowd  of 
evil  passions,  of  sinister  practices,  and  of  plausible  pretences, 
being  arrayed  against  justice  and  the  law,  in  two-thirds  of  the 
causes  on  the  calendar.  Then  it  was  that  Timms  and  saucy 
Williams,  or  Dick  Williams,  as  he  was  familiarly  termed  by  his 
associates,  came  out  in  their  strength,  playing  off  against  each 
other  the  out-door  practices  of  the  profession.  The  first  indica 
tion  that  the  former  now  got  of  the  very  serious  character  of  the 
struggle  that  was  about  to  take  place  between  them,  was  in  the 
extraordinary  civility  of  saucy  Williams  when  they  met  in  the 
bar-room  of  the  inn  they  each  frequented,  and  which  had  long 
been  the  arena  of  their  antagonistical  wit  and  practices. 

"  I  never  saw  you  look  better,  Timms,"  said  Williams,  in  the 
most  cordial  manner  imaginable ;  "  on  the  whole,  I  do  not  re 
member  to  have  ever  seen  you  looking  so  well.  You  grow  younger 
instead  of  older,  every  day  of  your  life.  By  the  way,  do  you 
intend  to  move  on  Butterfield  against  Town  this  circuit?" 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  do  it,  if  you  are  ready.  Cross-notices 
have  been  given,  you  know." 

Williams  knew  this  very  well;  and  he  also  knew  that  it  had 
been  done  to  entitle  the  respective  parties  to  costs,  in  the  event 


284  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

of  anything  occurring  to  give  either  side  an  advantage;  the 
cause  being  one  of  those  nuts  out  of  which  practitioners  are  very 
apt  to  extract  the  whole  of  the  kernel  before  they  are  done 
with  it. 

"  Yes,  I  am  aware  of  that,  and  I  believe  we  are  quite  ready 
I  see  that  Mr.  Town  is  here,  and  I  observe  several  of  his  wit 
nesses  ;  but  I  have  so  much  business,  I  have  no  wish  to  try  a 
long  slander  cause ;  words  spoken  in  heat,  and  never  thought  of 
again,  but  to  make  a  profit  of  them." 

"  You  are  employed  against  us  in  the  murder  case,  I  hear  V 

11 1  rather  think  the  friends  of  the  deceased  so  regard  it;  but 
I  have  scarcely  had  time  to  look  at  the  testimony  before  the 
coroner"  —  This  was  a  deliberate  mystification,  and  Timms  per 
fectly  understood  it  as  such,  well  knowing  that  the  other  had 
given  the  out-door  work  of  the  case  nearly  all  of  his  time  for  the 
last  fortnight  —  "and  I  don't  like  to  move  in  one  of  these  big 
matters  without  knowing  what  I  am  about.  Your  senior  counsel 
has  not  yet  arrived  from  town,  I  believe?" 

"He  cannot  be  here  until  Wednesday,  having  to  argue  a 
great  insurance  case  before  the  Superior  Court  to-day  and  to 
morrow." 

This  conversation  occurred  after  the  grand  jury  had  been 
charged,  the  petit  jurors  sworn,  and  the  judge  had  heard  several 
motions  for  correcting  the  calendar,  laying  causes  over,  &c.  &c. 
Two  hours  later,  the  District  Attorney  being  absent  in  his  room, 
engaged  with  the  grand  jury,  Williams  arose,  and  addressed  the 
court,  which  had  just  called  the  first  civil  cause  on  the  calendar. 

"  May  it  please  the  court,"  he  said,  coolly,  but  with  the  grave 
aspect  of  a  man  who  felt  he  was  dealing  with  a  very  serious 
matter — "  there  is  a  capital  indictment  depending,  a  case  of  arson 
and  murder,  which  it  is  the  intention  of  the  State  to  call  on  at 
once." 

The  judge  looked  still  more  grave  than  the  counsel,  and  it  was 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       285 

easy  to  see  that  he  deeply  regretted  it  should  fall  to  his  lot  to  try 
such  an  issue.  He  leaned  forward,  with  an  elbow  on  the  very 
primitive  sort  of  desk  with  which  he  was  furnished  by  the  public, 
indented  it  with  the  point  of  his  knife,  and  appeared  to  be  pass 
ing  in  review  such  of  the  circumstances  of  this  important  case 
as  he  had  become  acquainted  with,  judicially.  We  say  'judi 
cially;'  for  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  for  either  judge,  counsel,  or 
jurors,  in  the  state  of  society  that  now  exists,  to  keep  distinctly 
in  their  minds  that  which  has  been  obtained  under  legal  evidence, 
from  that  which  floats  about  the  community  on  the  thousand 
tongues  of  rumour  —  fact  from  fiction.  Nevertheless,  the  re 
spectable  magistrate  whose  misfortune  it  was  to  preside  on  this 
very  serious  occasion,  was  a  man  to  perform  all  his  duty  to  the 
point  where  public  opinion  or  popular  clamour  is  encountered. 
The  last  is  a  bug-bear  that  few  have  moral  courage  to  face ;  and 
the  evil  consequences  are  visible,  hourly,  daily,  almost  incessantly, 
in  most  of  the  interests  of  life.  This  popular  feeling  is  the  great 
moving  lever  of  the  republic ;  the  wronged  being  placed  beneath 
the  fulcrum,  while  the  outer  arm  of  the  engine  is  loaded  with 
numbers.  Thus  it  is  that  we  see  the  oldest  families  among  us 
quietly  robbed  of  their  estates,  after  generations  of  possession; 
the  honest  man  proscribed ;  the  knave  and  demagogue  deified ; 
mediocrity  advanced  to  high  places;  and  talents  and  capacity 
held  in  abeyance,  if  not  actually  trampled  under  foot.  Let  the 
truth  be  said :  these  are  evils  to  which  each  year  gives  additional 
force,  until  the  tyranny  of  the  majority  has  taken  a  form  and 
combination  which,  unchecked,  must  speedily  place  every  per 
sonal  right  at  the  mercy  of  plausible,  but  wrong-doing,  popular 
combinations. 

"  Has  the  prisoner  been  arraigned?"  asked  the  judge.     "I 
remember  nothing  of  the  sort." 

"  No,  your  honour,"  answered  Timms,  now  rising  for  the  first 
time  in  the  discussion,  and  looking  about  him  as  if  to  scan  the 


286  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

crowd  for  witnesses.  "  The  prosecution  does  not  yet  know  the 
plea  we  shall  put  in." 

"  You  are  retained  for  the  prisoner,  Mr.  Timms?" 

"  Yes,  sir ;  I  appear  in  her  behalf.  But  Mr.  Dunscomb  is 
also  retained,  and  will  be  engaged  in  the  New  York  Superior 
Court  until  Wednesday,  in  an  insurance  case  of  great  magni 
tude." 

"  No  insurance  case  can  be  of  the  magnitude  of  a  trial  foi 
life,"  returned  Williams.  "  The  justice  of  the  State  must  be 
vindicated,  and  the  person  of  the  citizen  protected." 

This  sounded  well,  and  it  caused  many  a  head  in  the  crowd, 
which  contained  both  witnesses  and  jurors,  to  nod  with  approba 
tion.  It  is  true,  that  every  thoughtful  and  observant  man  must 
have  had  many  occasions  to  observe  how  fallacious  such  a  de 
claration  is,  in  truth ;  but  it  sounded  well,  and  the  ears  of  the 
multitude  are  always  open  to  flattery. 

"  We  have  no  wish  to  interfere  with  the  justice  of  the  State, 
or  with  the  protection  of  the  citizen,"  answered  Timms,  looking 
round  to  note  the  effect  of  his  words  —  "our  object  is  to  defend 
the  innocent;  and  the  great  and  powerful  community  of  New 
York  will  find  more  pleasure  in  seeing  an  accused  acquitted  than 
in  seeing  fifty  criminals  condemned." 

This  sentiment  sounded  quite  as  well  as  that  of  Williams's, 
and  heads  were  again  nodded  in  approbation.  It  told  particularly 
well  in  a  paragraph  of  a  newspaper  that  Timms  had  engaged  to 
publish  what  he  considered  his  best  remarks. 

"  It  seems  to  me,  gentlemen,"  interposed  the  judge,  who  un 
derstood  the  meaning  of  these  ad  captandum  remarks  perfectly 
well,  "  that  your  conversation  is  premature  at  least,  if  not  alto 
gether  improper.  Nothing  of  this  nature  should  be  said  until 
the  prisoner  has  been  arraigned." 

"  I  submit,  your  honour,  and  acknowledge  the  justice  of  the 
reproof/'  answered  Williams.  "  I  now  move  the  court,  on  be- 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  287 

half  of  the  District  Attorney,  that  Mary  Monson,  who  stands 
indicted  for  murder  and  arson,  be  arraigned,  and  her  pleas  en 
tered " 

"  I  could  wish  this  step  might  be  delayed  until  I  can  hear 
from  the  leading  counsel  for  the  defence/'  objected  Timms, 
"which  must  now  occur  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  hours." 

"  I  perceive  that  the  prisoner  is  a  female/'  said  the  judge,  in 
a  tone  of  regret. 

"  Yes,  your  honour ;  she  is,  and  young  and  handsome,  they 
tell  me/'  answered  Williams ;  "  for  I  have  never  been  able  to 
get  a  sight  of  her.  She  is  too  much  of  a  great  lady  to  be  seen 
at  a  grate,  by  all  I  can  learn  of  her  and  her  proceedings.  Plays 
on  the  harp,  sir ;  has  a  French  valet  de  chambre,  or  something 
of  that  sort " 

"  This  is  all  wrong,  Mr.  Williams,  and  must  be  checked," 
again  interposed  the  judge,  though  very  mildly ;  for,  while  his 
experience  taught  him  that  the  object  of  such  remarks  was  to 
create  prejudice,  and  his  conscience  prompted  him  to  put  an  end 
to  a  proceeding  so  unrighteous,  he  stood  in  so  much  awe  of  this 
particular  counsel,  who  had  half  a  dozen  presses  at  his  command, 
that  it  required  a  strong  inducement  to  bring  him  out  as  he 
ought  to  be,  in  opposition  to  any  of  his  more  decided  movements. 
As  for  the  community,  with  the  best  intentions  as  a  whole,  it 
stood  passive  under  this  gross  wrong.  What  'is  everybody's 
business'  is  literally  '  nobody's  business,'  when  the  public  virtue 
is  the  great  moving  power ;  the  upright  preferring  their  ease  to 
everything  else,  and  the  ill-disposed  manifesting  the  ceaseless 
activity  of  the  wicked.  All  the  ancient  barriers  to  this  species 
of  injustice,  which  have  been  erected  by  the  gathered  wisdom 
of  our  fathers  and  the  experience  of  ages,  have  been  thrown 
down  by  the  illusions  of  a  seeming  liberty,  and  the  whole  ma 
chinery  of  justice  is  left  very  much  at  the  mercy  of  an  outside 
public  opinion,  which,  in  itself,  is  wielded  by  a  few  of  the  worst 


288  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

men  in  the  country.  These  are  sober  truths,  as  a  close  examina 
tion  will  show  to  any  one  who  may  choose  to  enter  into  the 
investigation  of  the  ungrateful  subject.  It  is  not  what  is  said, 
we  very  well  know ;  but  it  is  what  is  done. 

Williams  received  the  mild  rebuke  of  the  judge  like  one  who 
felt  his  position;  paying  very  little  respect  to  its  spirit  or  its 
letter.  He  knew  his  own  power,  and  understood  perfectly  well 
that  this  particular  magistrate  was  soon  to  run  for  a  new  term  of 
office,  and  might  be  dealt  with  more  freely  on  that  account. 

"I  know  it  is  very  wrong,  your  honour  —  very  wrong"  — 
rejoined  the  wily  counsel  to  what  had  been  said  —  "so  wrong, 
that  I  regard  it  as  an  insult  to  the  State.  W7hen  a  person  is 
capitally  indicted,  man  or  woman,  it  is  his  or  her  bounden  duty 
to  put  all  aboveboard,  that  there  may  be  no  secrets.  The  harp 
was  once  a  sacred  instrument,  and  it  is  highly  improper  to  intro 
duce  it  into  our  gaols  and  criminals'  cells " 

"  There  is  no  criminal  as  yet  —  no  crime  can  be  established 
without  proof,  and  the  verdict  of  twelve  good  men  and  true," 
interrupted  Timms — "  I  object,  therefore,  to  the  learned  counsel's 
remarks,  and " 

"Gentlemen,  gentlemen/'  put  in  the  judge,  a  little  more 
pointedly  than  in  his  former  rebuke  —  "  this  is  all  wrong,  I  re 
peat." 

"  You  perceive,  my  brother  Timms,"  rejoined  the  indomitable 
Williams,  "  the  court  is  altogether  against  you.  This  is  not  a 
country  of  lords  and  ladies,  fiddles  and  harps,  but  of  the  people  ; 
and  when  the  people  find  a  bill  for  a  capital  offence,  capital  care 
should  be  taken  not  to  give  more  offence." 

Williams  had  provided  himself  with  a  set  of  supporters  that 
are  common  enough  in  the  courts,  whose  business  it  was  to  grin, 
and  sneer,  and  smile,  and  look  knowing  at  particular  hits  of  the 
Counsel,  and  otherwise  to  back  up  his  wit,  and  humour,  and  logic, 
by  the  agency  of  sympathy.  This  expedient  is  getting  to  be 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  289 

quite  common,  and  is  constantly  practised  in  suits  that  relate,  in 
any  manner,  to  politics  or  political  men.  It  is  not  so  common, 
certainly,  in  trials  for  life ;  though  it  may  be,  and  has  been,  used 
with  effect,  evenwm  such  serious  occasions.  The  influence  of 
these  wily  demonstrations,  which  are  made  to  have  the  appear 
ance  of  public  opinion,  is  very  great  on  the  credulous  and  igno 
rant  ;  men  thus  narrowly  gifted  invariably  looking  aroimd  them 
to  find  support  in  the  common  mind. 

The  hits  of  Williams  told,  to  Timms's  great  annoyance ;  nor 
did  he  know  exactly  how  to  parry  them.  Had  he  been  the 
assailant  himself,  he  could  have  wielded  the  weapons  of  his  anta 
gonist  with  equal  skill ;  but  his  dexterity  was  very  much  con 
fined  to  the  offensive  in  cases  of  this  nature  j  for  he  perfectly 
comprehended  all  the  prejudices  on  which  it  was  necessary  to 
act,  while  he  possessed  but  a  very  narrow  knowledge  of  the 
means  of  correcting  them.  Nevertheless,  it  would  not  do  to  let 
the  prosecution  close  the  business  of  the  day  with  so  much  of 
the  air  of  triumph,  and  the  indomitable  attorney  made  an 
other  effort  to  place  his  client  more  favourably  before  the 
public  eye. 

"  The  harp  is  a  most  religious  instrument,"  he  coolly  observed, 
"  and  it  has  no  relation  to  the  violin,  or  any  light  and  frivolous 
piece  of  music.  David  used  it  as  the  instrument  of  praise,  and 

why  should  not  a  person  who  stands  charged " 

"  I  have  told  you,  gentlemen,  that  all  this  is  irregular,  and 
cannot  be  permitted,"  cried  the  judge,  with  a  little  more  of  the 
appearance  of  firmness  than  he  had  yet  exhibited. 

The  truth  was,  that  he  stood  less  in  fear  of  Timms  than  of 
Williams;  the  connection  of  the  last  with  the  reporters  being 
known  to  be  much  the  most  extensive.  But  Timms  knew  his 
man,  and  understood  very  well  what  the  committal  of  counsel 
had  got  to  be,  under  the  loose  notions  of  liberty  that  have  grown 
up  in  the  country  within  the  last  twenty  years.  Time  was,  and 

13 


290  THE    WAYS   OF   THE   HOUR. 

that  at  no  remote  period,  when  the  lawyer  who  had  been  thus 
treated  for  indecorum  at  the  bar  would  have  been  a  disgraced 
man,  and  would  have  appealed  in  vain  to  the  community  for 
sympathy;  little  or  none  would  he  have  reeved.  Men  then 
understood  that  the  law  was  their  master,  established  by  them 
selves,  and  was  to  be  respected  accordingly.  But  that  feeling  is 
in  a  great  measure  extinct.  Liberty  is  every  hour  getting  to  be 
more  and  more  personal ;  its  concentration  consisting  in  render 
ing  every  man  his  own  legislator,  his  own  judge,  and  his  own 
juror.  It  is  monarchical  and  aristocratic,  and  all  that  is  vile  and 
dangerous,  to  see  power  exercised  by  any  but  the  people ;  those 
whom  the  constitution  and  the  laws  have  set  apart  expressly  to 
discharge  a  delegated  authority  being  obliged,  by  clamours  sus 
tained  by  all  the  arts  of  cupidity  and  fraud,  to  defer  to  the  pass 
ing  opinions  of  the  hour.  No  one  knew  this  better  than  Timms, 
who  had  just  as  lively  a  recollection  as  his  opponent  that  this 
very  judge  was  to  come  before  the  people,  in  the  next  autumn, 
as  a  candidate  for  re-election.  The  great  strain  of  American 
foresight  was  consequently  applied  to  this  man's  conscience,  who, 
over-worked  and  under-paid,  was  expected  to  rise  above  the  weak- 
aesses  of  humanity,  as  a  sort  of  sublimated  political  theory  that 
is  getting  to  be  much  in  fashion,  and  which,  if  true,  would  super 
sede  the  necessity  of  any  court  or  any  government  at  all.  Timms 
knew  this  well,  and  was  not  to  be  restrained  by  one  who  was  thus 
stretched,  as  it  might  be,  on  the  tenter-hooks  of  political  uncer 
tainty. 

"  Yes,  your  honour,"  retorted  this  indomitable  individual,  "  I 
am  fully  aware  of  its  impropriety,  and  was  just  as  much  so  when 
the  counsel  for  the  prosecution  was  carrying  it  on  to  the  injury 
of  my  client;  I  might  say  almost  unchecked,  if  not  encou 
raged." 

"  The  court  did  its  best  to  stop  Mr.  Williams,  sir;  and  must 
do  the  same  to  keep  you  within  the  proper  limits  of  practice- 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  291 

Unless  these  improprieties  are  restrained,  I  shall  confine  the 
counsel  for  the  State  to  the  regular  officer,  and  assign  new  counsel 
to  the  accused,  as  from  the  court." 

Both  Williams  •  and  Timms  looked  amused  at  this  menace, 
neither  having  the  smallest  notion  the  judge  dare  put  such  a 
threat  in  execution.  What!  presume  to  curb  licentiousness 
when  it  chose  to  assume  the  aspect  of  human  rights  ?  This  was 
an  act  behind  the  age,  more  especially  in  a  country  in  which 
liberty  is  so  fast  getting  to  be  all  means,  with  so  very  little 
regard  to  the  end. 

A  desultory  conversation  ensued,  when  it  was  finally  settled 
that  the  trial  must  be  postponed  until  the  arrival  of  the  counsel 
expected  from  town.  From  the  beginning  of  the  discussion, 
Williams  knew  such  must  be  the  termination  of  that  day's  work ; 
but  he  had  accomplished  two  great  objects  by  his  motion.  In 
the  first  place,  by  conceding  delay  to  the  accused,  it  placed  the 
prosecution  on  ground  where  a  similar  favour  might  be  asked, 
should  it  be  deemed  expedient.  This  resisting  of  motions  for 
delay  is  a  common  ruse  of  the  bar,  since  it  places  the  party  whose 
rights  are  seemingly  postponed  in  a  situation  to  demand  a  similar 
concession.  Williams  knew  that  his  case  was  ready  as  related  to 
his  brief,  the  testimony,  and  all  that  could  properly  be  produced 
in  court ;  but  he  thought  it  might  be  strengthened  out  of  doors, 
among  the  jurors  and  the  witnesses.  We  say,  the  witnesses ;  be 
cause  even  this  class  of  men  get  their  impressions,  quite  fre 
quently,  as  much  from  what  they  subsequently  hear,  as  from 
what  they  have  seen  and  know.  A  good  reliable  witness,  who 
relates  no  more  than  he  actually  knows,  conceals  nothing,  colours 
nothing,  and  leaves  a  perfectly  fair  impression  of  the  truth,  ig 
perhaps  the  rarest  of  all  the  parties  concerned  in  the  administra 
tion  of  justice.  No  one  understood  this  better  than  Williams ; 
and  his  agents  were,  at  that  very  moment,  actively  employed  in 


292  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

endeavouring  to  persuade  certain  individuals  that  they  knew  a 
great  deal  more  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  murders,  than 
the  truth  would  justify.  This  was  not  done  openly  or  directly ; 
not  in  a  way  to  alarm  the  consciences  or  pride  of  those  who  were 
to  be  duped,  but  by  the  agency  of  hints,  and  suggestions,  and 
plausible  reasonings,  and  all  the  other  obvious  devices,  by  means 
of  which  the  artful  and  unprincipled  are  enabled  to  act  on  the 
opinions  of  the  credulous  and  inexperienced. 

While  all  these  secret  engines  were  at  work  in  the  streets  of 
Biberry,  the  external  machinery  of  justice  was  set  in  motion  with 
the  usual  forms.  Naked,  but  business-like,  the  blind  goddess  was 
invoked  with  what  is  termed  "  republican  simplicity/'  one  of  the 
great  principles  of  which,  in  some  men's  estimation,  is  to  get  the 
maximum  of  work  at  the  minimum  of  cost.  We  are  no  advocates 
for  the  senseless  parade  and  ruthless  expenditure  —  ruthless,  be 
cause  extracted  from  the  means  of  the  poor  —  with  which  the 
governments  of  the  old  world  have  invested  their  dignity;  and 
we  believe  that  the  reason  of  men  may  be  confided  in,  in  ma 
naging  these  matters,  to  a  certain  extent;  though  not  to  the 
extent  that  it  would  seem  to  be  the  fashion  of  the  American 
theories,  to  be  desirable.  Wigs  of  all  kinds,  even  when  there  is  a 
deficiency  of  hair,  we  hold  in  utter  detestation;  and  we  shall 
maintain  that  no  more  absurd  scheme  of  clothing  the  human 
countenance  with  terror 'was  ever  devised,  than  to  clothe  it  with 
flax.  Nevertheless,  as  comfort,  decency  and  taste  unite  in  re 
commending  clothing  of  some  sort  or  other,  we  do  not  see  why 
the  judicial  functionary  should  not  have  his  appropriate  attire  as 
well  as  the  soldier,  the  sailor,  or  the  priest.  It  does  not  neces 
sarily  follow  that  extravagances  are  to  be  imitated  if  we  submit 
to  this  practice ;  though  we  incline  to  the  opinion  that  a  great 
deal  of  the  nakedness  of  "  republican  simplicity,"  which  has  got 
to  be  a  sort  of  political  idol  in  the  land,  has  its  origin  in  a  spirit 


THB   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  293 

that  denounces  the  past  as  a  species  of  moral  sacrifice  to  the 
present  time. 

Let  all  this  be  as  it  may,  it  is  quite  certain  that  "  republican 
simplicity" — the  slang  lever  by  means  of  which  the  artful  move 
the  government  —  has  left  the  administration  of  justice  among 
us,  so  far  as  externals  are  concerned,  as  naked  as  may  be.  In 
deed,  so  much  have  the  judges  become  exposed  to  sinister  influ 
ences/  by  means  of  the  intimacies  with  which  they  are  invested 
by  means  of  "republican  simplicity/'  that  it  has  been  found 
expedient  to  make  a  special  provision  against  undue  modes  of 
approaching  their  ears,  all  of  which  would  have  been  far  more 
efficiently  secured  by  doubling  their  salaries,  making  a  respecta 
ble  provision  for  old  age  in  the  way  of  pensions,  and  surrounding 
them  with  such  forms  as  would  keep  the  evil-disposed  at  a  rea 
sonable  distance.  Neither  Timms  nor  "saucy  Williams/'  how 
ever,  reasoned  in  this  fashion.  They  were,  in  a  high  degree, 
practical  men,  and  saw  things  as  they  are ;  not  as  they  ought  to 
be.  Little  was  either  troubled  with  theories,  regrets,  or  princi 
ples.  It  was  enough  for  each  that  he  was  familiar  with  the 
workings  of  the  system  under  which  he  lived;  and  which  he 
knew  how  to  pervert  in  a  way  the  most  likely  to  effect  his  own 
purposes. 

The  reader  may  be  surprised  at  the  active  pertinacity  with 
which  Williams  pursued  one  on  trial  for  her  life  j  a  class  of  per 
sons  with  whom  the  bar  usually  professes  to  deal  tenderly  and  in 
mercy.  But  the  fact  was  that  he  had  been  specially  retained  by 
the  next  of  kin,  who  had  large  expectations  from  the  abstracted 
hoards  of  his  aunt ;  and  that  the  fashion  of  the  day  had  enabled 
him  to  achieve  such  a  cent  per  cent  bargain  with  his  client,  as 
caused  his  own  compensation  altogether  to  depend  on  the  mea 
sure  of  his  success.  Should  Mary  Monson  be  sentenced  to  the 
gallows,  it  was  highly  probable  her  revelations  would  put  the 


294  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

wronged  in  the  way  of  being  righted,  when  this  limb  of  the  law 
would,  in  all  probability,  come  in  for  a  full  share  of  the  reco 
vered  gold.  How  different  all  this  was  from  the  motives  and 
conduct  of  Dunscomb,  the  reader  will  readily  perceive ;  for,  while 
the  profession  in  this  country  abounds  with  Williams' s  and 
Timms's,  men  of  the  highest  tone  of  feeling,  the  fairest  practice, 
and  the  clearest  perceptions  of  what  is  right;  are  by  no  means 
strangers  to  the  bar. 


CHAPTER 


»*Thou  hast  already  racked  me  with  thy  st"\ 
Therefore  require  me  not  to  ask  thee  twice 
Reply  at  once  to  all.  What  is  concluded  ?" 

Mourn  <\$  Bride. 

the  interval  between  the  occurrence  o£  the  scene  in 
court  that  has  just  been  related,  and  the  appearance  of  Dunscomb 
at  Biberry,  the  community  was  rapidly  taking  sides  on  the  subject 
of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  Mary  Monson.  The  windows  of  the 
gaol  were  crowded  all  day;  throngs  collecting  there  to  catch 
glimpses  of  the  extraordinary  female,  who  was  rightly  enough 
reported  to  be  living  in  a  species  of  luxury  in  so  unusual  a  place, 
and  who  was  known  to  play  on  an  instrument  that  the  popular 
mind  was  a  good  deal  disposed  to  regard  as  sacred.  As  a  matter 
of  course,  a  hundred  stories  were  in  circulation,  touching  the 
character,  history,  sayings  and  doings  of  this  remarkable  person,' 
that  had  no  foundation  whatever  in  truth  ;  for  it  is  an  infirmity 
of  human  nature  to  circulate  and  place  its  belief  in  falsehoods  of 
this  sort  ;  and  more  especially  of  human  nature  as  it  is  exhibited 
in  a  country  where  care  has  been  taken  to  stimulate  the  curiosity 
of  the  vulgar,  without  exactly  placing  them  in  a  condition  to  ap 
pease  its  longings,  either  intelligently  or  in  a  very  good  taste. 

This  interest  would  frave  been  manifested,  in  such  a  case,  had 
there  been  no  particular  moving  cause  ;  but  the  secret  practices 
of  Williams  and  Timms  greatly  increased  its  intensity*  and  was 
bringing  the  population  of  Duke's  to  a  state  of  excitement  that 
was  very  little  fovourabh  to  an  impartial  administration  of  jus- 

(295) 


296  THE   WAYS    OF   THE  HOUR. 

tice.  Discussions  had  taken  place  at  every  corner,  and  in  all  tike 
bar-rooms;  and  many  were  the  alleged  facts  connected  with  the 
murders,  which  had  their  sole  existence  in  rumour,  that  was  ad 
duced  in  the  heat  of  argument,  or  to  make  out  a  supposititious 
case,  jill  this  time,  Williams  was  either  in  court,  attending 
closely  to  his  different  causes,  or  was  seen  passing  between  the 
court-house  and  the  tavern,  with  bundles  of  papers  under  his 
arms,  like  a  man  absorbed  in  business.  Timms  played  a  very 
similar  part,  though  he  found  leisure  to  hold  divers  conferences 
with  several  of  his  confidential  agents.  Testimony  was  his  aim  ; 
and,  half  a  dozen  times,  when  he  fancied  himself  on  the  poinfc 
of  establishing  something  new  and  important,  the  whole  of  the 
ingenious  fabric  he  had  reared  came  tumbling  about  his  ears,  in; 
consequence  of  some  radical  defect  in  the  foundation. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday,,, 
the  day  preceding  that  which  had  been  set  down  for  the  trial,, 
when  the  stage  arrived  bringing  "  'Squire  Dunseomb,"  his  carpet 
bags,  his  trunk,  and  his  books.  McBrain  shortly  after  drove  up 
in  his  own  carriage ;  and  Anna  was  soon  in  her  mother's  arms. 
The  excitement,  so  general  in  the  place,  had  naturally  enough, 
extended  to  these  females ;  and  Mrs.  McBrain  and  her  daughter 
were  soon  closeted,  talking  over  the  affair  of  Mary  Monson. 

About  eight  that  evening,  Dunseomb  and  Timms  were  busy, 
looking  over  minutes  of  testimony,  briefs,  and  other  written  do 
cuments  that  were  connected  with  the  approaching  trial.  Mrs. 
Horton  had  reserved  the  best  room  in  her  house  for  this  distin 
guished  counsel  j  an  apartment  in  a  wing  that  was  a  good  deal 
removed  from  the  noise  and  bustle  of  a  leading  inn,  during  a 
circuit.  Here  Dunseomb  had  been  duly  installed,  and  here  he- 
early  set  up  "  his  traps,"  as  he  termed  his  flesh-brushes,  sponges,, 
briefs,  and  calfskin-covered  volumes.  Two  tallow  candles  threw 
a  dim,  lawyer-like  light  on  the  scene ;  while  unrolled  paper-cur 
tains  shut  out  as  much  of  night  as  such  an  imperfect  screen 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR,  297 

could  exclude.  The  odour  of  segars  —  excellent  Havannas,  by 
the  way  —  was  fragrant  in  the  place ;  and  one  of  the  little  foun 
tains  of  smoke  was  stuck  knowingly  in  a  corner  of  the  eminent 
counsel's  mouth,  while  Timms  had  garnished  his  skinny  lipa 
with  the  short  stump  of  a  pipe.  Neither  said  anything;  one  of 
the  parties  presenting  documents  that  the  other  read  in  silence. 
Such  was  the  state  of  matters,  when  a  slight  tap  at  the  door  was 
succeeded  by  the  unexpected  appearance  of  "  saucy  Williams." 
Timms  started,  gathered  together  all  his  papers  with  the  utmost 
care,  and  awaited  the  explanation  of  this  unlooked-for  visit  with 
the  most  lively  curiosity.  Dunscomb,  on  the  other  hand,  received 
his  guest  with  urbanity,  and  like  one  who  felt  that  the  wrangling 
of  the  bar,  in  which,  by  the  way,  he  had  too  much  self-respect 
and  good  temper  to  indulge,  had  no  necessary  connection  with 
the  courtesies  of  private  life. 

Williams  had  scarcely  a  claim  superior  to  those  of  Timms,  to 
be  considered  a  gentleman;  though  he  had  the  advantage  of 
having  been  what  is  termed  liberally  educated — a  phrase  of  very 
doubtful  import,  when  put  to  the  test  of  old-fashioned  notions  on 
such  subjects.  In  manners,  he  had  the  defects,  and  we  may  add 
the  merits,  of  the  school  in  which  he  had  been  educated.  All 
that  has  been  said  of  Timms  on  this  subject,  in  the  way  of  cen 
sure,  was  equally  applicable  to  Williams ;  but  the  last  possessed 
a  self-command,  an  admirable  reliance  on  his  own  qualities,  which 
would  have  fitted  him,  as  regards  this  one  quality,  to  be  an  em 
peror.  Foreigners  wonder  at  the  self-possession  of  Americans  in 
the  presence  of  the  great ;  and  it  is  really  one  of  the  merits  of  the 
institutions  that  it  causes  every  person  to  feel  that  he  is  a  man, 
and  entitled  to  receive  the  treatment  due  to  a  being  so  high  in 
the  scale  of  earthly  creations.  It  is  true,  that  this  feeling  often 
degenerates  into  a  vulgar  and  over-sensitive  jealousy,  frequently 
rendering  its  possessor  exacting  and  ridiculous;  but,  on  the 
whole,  the  effect  is  manly,  not  to  say  ennobling. 

13* 


298  THE   WAYS    CF   THE   HOUR. 

Now,  Williams  was  self-possessed  by  nature,  as  well  as  by 
association  and  education.  Though  keenly  alive  to  the  differences 
and  chances  of  fortune,  he  never  succumbed  to  mere  rank  and 
wealth.  Intriguing  by  disposition,  not  to  say  by  education,  he 
could  affect  a  deference  he.  did  not  feel ;  but,  apart  from  the  posi 
tive  consequences  of  power,  he  was  not  to  be  daunted  by  the 
presence  of  the  most  magnificent  sovereign  who  ever  reigned. 
No  wonder,  then,  that  he  felt  quite  at  home  in  the  company  of 
his  present  host;  though  fully  aware  that  he  was  one  of  the 
leading  members  of  the  New  York  bar.  As  a  proof  of  this  inde 
pendence  may  be  cited  the  fact  that  he  had  no  sooner  paid  his 
salutations  and  been  invited  to  be  seated,  than  he  deliberately 
selected  a  segar  from  the  open  box  of  Dunscomb,  lighted  it,  took 
a  chair,  raised  one  leg  coolly  on  the  corner  of  a  table,  and  began 
to  smoke. 

"  The  calendar  is  a  little  crowded,"  observed  this  free-and-easy 
visiter,  "  and  is  likely  to  carry  us  over  into  the  middle  of  next 
week.  Are  you  retained  in  Daniels  against  Fireman's  Insu 
rance?" 

"  I  am  not — a  brief  was  offered  by  the  plaintiff,  but  I  declined 
taking  it." 

"  A  little  conscientious,  I  suppose.  Well,  I  leave  all  the  sin 
of  my  suits  on  the  shoulders  of  my  clients.  It  is  bad  enough  to 
listen  to  their  griefs,  without  being  called  on  to  smart  for  them. 
I  have  heard  you  are  in  Cogswell  against  Davidson  ?" 

"  In  that  cause  I  have  been  retained.  I  may  as  well  say,  at 
once,  we  intend  to  move  it  on." 

"  It 's  of  no  great  moment — if  you  beat  us  at  the  circuit,  our 
turn  will  come  on  execution." 

"  I  believe,  Mr.  Williams,  your  clients  have  a  knack  at  gaining 
the  day  in  that  mode.  It  is  of  no  great  interest  to  me,  however, 
as  I  rarely  take  the  management  of  a  cause  after  it  quits  the 
courts." 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       299 

**  How  do  you  like  the  Code,  brother  Dunscomb  ? " 

"  Damnable,  sir.  I  am  too  old,  in  the  first  place,  to  like 
change.  Then  change  from  bad  to  worse  is  adding  folly  to  im 
becility.  The  Common  Law  practice  had  its  faults,  I  allow ;  but 
this  new  system  has  no  merits." 

"  I  do  not  go  as  far  as  that ;  and  I  rather  begin  to  like  the 
new  plan  of  remuneration.  We  are  nothing  out  of  pocket,  and 
sometimes  are  a  handsome  sum  in.  You  defend  Mary  Monson?" 

Timms  felt  assured  that  his  old  antagonist  had  now  reached 
the  case  that  had  really  brought  him  to  the  room.  He  fidgeted, 
looked  eagerly  round  to  see  that  no  stray  paper  could  fall  beneath 
the  hawk-like  eye  of  the  other  party,  and  then  sat  in  comparative 
composure,  waiting  the  result. 

"I  do/7  Dunscomb  quietly  replied ;  " and  I  shall  do  it  con 
amore  —  I  suppose  you  know  what  that  means,  Mr.  Williams?" 

A  sarcastic  smile  passed  over  the  steeled  countenance  of  the 
ether,  his  appearance  being  literally  sardonic  for  an  instant. 

"  I  presume  I  do.  We  know  enough  Latin  in  Duke's  to  get 
along  with  such  a  quotation ;  though  our  friend  Timms  here  de 
spises  the  classics.  *  Con  amore'  means,  in  this  instance,  a  '  lover's 
zeal/  I  suppose;  for  they  tell  me  that  all  who  approach  the 
criminal  submits  to  her  power  to  charm." 

"  The  accused,  if  you  please,"  put  in  the  opposing  attorney ; 
(*  but  no  criminal ',  until  the  word  '  guilty'  has  been  pronounced." 

"  I  am  convicted.  They  say  you  are  to  be  the  happy  man, 
Timms,  in  the  event  of  an  acquittal.  It  is  reported  all  over  the 
county,  that  you  are  to  become  Mr.  Monson  as  a  reward  for  your 
services ;  and  if  half  that  I  hear  be  true,  you  will  deserve  her, 
with  a  good  estate  in  the  bargain." 

Here  Williams  laughed  heartily  at  his  own  wit;  but  Duns- 
comb  looked  grave,  while  his  associate  counsel  looked  angry.  In 
point  of  fact  the  nail  had  been  hit  on  the  head ;  and  conscious 
ness  lighted  the  spirit  within,  with  its  calm,  mild  glow.  The 


800  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOJ&. 

senior  counsel  was  too  proud,  and  too  dignified,  to  make  any  re 
ply  ;  but  Timms  was  troubled  with  no  sueh  feeling. 

"  If  there  are  any  such  rumours  in  old  Duke's/7  retorted  tha 
last,  "  it  will  not  need  mesmerism  to  discover  their  author.  In* 
my  opinion,  the  people  ought  to  carry  on  their  suits  in  a  spirit 
of  liberality  and  justice ;  and  not  in  a  vindictive,  malicious  tem 
per." 

u  We  are  all  of  the  same  way  of  thinking/'  answered  Wil 
liams,  with  a  sneer.  "  I  consider  it  liberal  to  give  you  a  hand 
some  young  woman  with  a  full  purse ;  though  no  one  can  say 
how,  or  by  whom,  it  has  been  filled.  By  the  way,  Mr.  Dunscomb? 
I  am  instructed  to  make  a  proposal  to  you ;  and  as  Tirnms  is  in 
the  court,  this  may  be  as  good  a  moment  as  another  to  present  it 
for  consideration.  My  offer  is  from  the  nephew,  next  of  kin,  and 
sole  heir  of  the  late  Peter  Goodwin ;  by  whom,  as  you  probably 
know,  I  am  retained.  This  gentleman  is  well  assure^  that  his 
deceased  relatives  had  a  large  sum  in  gold  by  them,  at  the  time 
of  the  murders " 

"  No  verdict  has  yet  shown  that  there  has  been  any  murders 
at  all,"  interrupted  Timms. 

"  We  have  the  verdict  of  the  inquest,  begging  your  pardon, 
brother  Timms  —  that  is  something,  surely;  though  not  enough, 
quite  likely,  to  convince  your  mind.  But,  to  proceed  with  my 
proposition  :  —  My  client  is  well  assured  that  such  a  secret  fund 
existed.  He  also  knows  that  your  client,  gentlemen,  is  flush  of 
money,  and  money  in  gold  coins  that  correspond  with  many  pieces 
that  have  been  seen  by  different  individuals  in  the  possession  of 
our  aunt " 

"Ay,  eagles  and  half-eagles,"  interrupted  Timms — "a  resem 
blance  that  comes  from  the  stamp  of  the  mint/' 

"  Go  on  with  your  proposition,  Mr.  Williams" — said  Duns- 
comb. 

"  We  offer  to  withdraw  all  our  extra  counsel,  myself  included^ 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  301 

and  to  leave  the  case  altogether  with  the  State,  which  is  very 
much  the  same  thing  as  an  acquittal ;  provided  you  will  return  to 
us  five  thousand  dollars  in  this  gold  coin.  Not  pay,  for  that 
might  be  compounding  a  felony;  but  return." 

"  There  could  be  no  compounding  a  felony,  if  the  indictment 
be  not  quashed,  but  traversed,"  said  the  senior  counsel  for  the 
defence. 

"  Very  true ;  but  we  prefer  the  word  '  return/  That  leaves 
everything  clear,  and  will  enable  us  to  face  the  county.  Our 
object  is  to  get  our  rights — let  the  State  take  care  of  its  justice 
for  itself." 

"  You  can  hardly  expect  that  such  a  proposition  should  be 
accepted,  Williams?" 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that,  Timms ;  life  is  sweeter  than  money 
even.  I  should  like  to  hear  the  answer  of  your  associate,  how 
ever.  You,  I  can  see,  have  no  intention  of  lessening  the  marriage 
portion,  if  it  can  be  helped." 

Such  side-hits  were  so  common  in  court,  as  between  these 
worthies,  that  neither  thought  much  of  them  out  of  court.  But 
Williams  gave  a  signal. proof  of  the  acuteness  of  his  observation, 
when  he  expressed  a  wish  to  know  in  what  light  his  proposal  was 
viewed  by  Dunscoinb.  That  learned  gentleman  evidently  paid 
more  respect  to  the  offer  than  had  been  manifested  by  his  asso 
ciate;  and  now  sat  silently  ruminating  on  its  nature.  Thus 
directly  appealed  to,  he  felt  the  necessity  of  giving  some  sort  of 
an  answer. 

"  You  have  come  expressly  to  make  this  proposition  to  us, 
Mr.  Williams  ?"  Dunscomb  demanded. 

"  To  be  frank  with  you,  sir,  such  is  the  main  object  of  my 
visit." 

"  Of  course  it  is  sanctioned*  by  your  client,  and  you  speak  by 
authority?" 

"  It  is  fully  sanctioned  by  my  client,  who  would  greatly  prefer 


302  THE   Wl?5    OF    THE   HOUR. 

the  plan ;  and  I  act  directly  by  his  written  instructions.  Nothing 
ehort  of  these  would  induce  me  to  make  the  proposition. ' 

u  Very  well,  sir.  Will  an  answer  by  ten  o'clock  this  evening 
meet  your  views?" 

"  Perfectly  so.  An  answer  at  any  time  between  this  and  th* 
sitting  of  the  court  to-morrow  morning,  will  fully  meet  our  views. 
The  terms,  however,  cannot  be  diminished.  Owing  to  the  short 
ness  of  the  time,  it  may  be  well  to  understand  that" 

"  Then,  Mr.  Williams,  I  ask  a  little  time  for  reflection  and 
consultation.  We  may  meet  again  to-night." 

The  other  assented,  rose,  coolly  helped  himself  to  another 
segar,  and  had  got  as  far  as  the  door,  when  an  expressive  gesture 
from  Timms  induced  him  to  pause. 

"Let  us  understand  each  other/'  said  the  last,  with  em 
phasis.  "  Is  this  a  truce,  with  a  complete  cessation  of  hostili 
ties  ;  or  is  it  only  a  negotiation  to  be  carried  on  in  the  midst  of 
war?" 

"  I  hardly  comprehend  your  meaning,  Mr.  Timms.  The  ques 
tion  is  simply  one  of  taking  certain  forces  —  allied  forces,  they 
may  be  called  —  from  the  field,  and  leaving  you  to  contend  only 
with  the  main  enemy.  There  need  be  nothing  said  of  a  truce, 
since  nothing  further  can  be  done  until  the  court  opens." 

"  That  may  do  very  well,  Williams,  for  those  that  haven't 
practised  in  Duke's  as  long  as  myself;  but  it  will  not  do  for  me. 
There  is  an  army  of  reporters  here,  at  this  moment ;  and  I  am 
afraid  that  the  allies  of  whom  you  speak  have  whole  corps  of 
skirmishers." 

Williams  maintained  a  countenance  so  unmoved  that  even  the 
judicious  Timms  was  a  little  shaken ;  while  Dunscomb,  who  had 
all  the  reluctance  of  a  gentleman  to  believe  in  an  act  of  mean 
ness,  felt  outraged  by  his  associate's  suspicions. 

"  Come,  come,  Mr.  Timms,"  the  last  exclaimed,  (( I  beg  wo 
may  have  no  more  of  this.  Mr.  Williams  has  come  with  a  pro- 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  303 

position  worthy  of  our  consideration ;  let  us  meet  it  in  the  spirit 
in  which  it  is  offered." 

"  Yes,"  repeated  Williams,  with  a  look  that  might  well  have 
explained  his  sobriquet  of  ' saucy/  yes,  in  the  spirit  in  which  it 
is  offered.  What  do  you  say  to  that,  Timms?" 

"  That  I  shall  manage  the  defence  precisely  as  if  no  such  pro 
position  had  been  made,  or  any  negotiation  accepted.  You  can 
do  the  same  for  the  prosecution." 

"Agreed!"  Williams  rejoined,  making  a  sweeping  gesture 
with  his  hand,  and  immediately  quitting  the  room. 

Dunscomb  was  silent  for  a  minute.  A  thread  of  smoke  arose 
from  the  end  of  his  segar ;  but  the  volume  no  longer  poured  from 
between  his  lips.  He  was  ruminating  too  intensely  even  to 
smoke.  Rising  suddenly,  he  took  his  hat,  and  motioned  towards 
the  door. 

"  Timms,  we  must  go  to  the  gaol,"  he  said ;  "  Mary  Monson 
must  be  spoken  to  at  once." 

"  If  Williams  had  made  his  proposition  ten  days  ago,  there 
might  be  some  use  in  listening  to  it,"  returned  the  junior,  follow 
ing  the  senior  counsel  from  the  room,  carrying  all  the  papers  in 
the  cause  under  an  arm ;  "  but,  now  that  all  the  mischief  is  done, 
it  would  be  throwing  away  five  thousand  dollars  to  listen  to  his 
proposition." 

"  We  will  see  —  we  will  see,"  answered  the  other,  hurrying 
down  stairs  —  "  what  means  the  rumpus  in  that  room,  Timms  ? 
Mrs.  Horton  has  not  treated  me  well,  to  place  a  troublesome 
neighbour  so  near  me.  I  shall  stop  and  tell  her  as  much,  as  we 
go  through  the  hall." 

"  You  had  better  not,  'Squire.  We  want  all  our  friends  just 
now ;  and  a  sharp  word  might  cause  us  to  lose  this  woman,  wha 
has  a  devil  of  a  tongue.  She  tells  me  that  a  crazy  man  was 
brought  here  privately ;  and,  being  well  paid  for  it,  she  has  con- 
lented  to  give  him  what  she  calls  her  '  drunkard's  parlour/  until 


304  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

the  court  has  settled  his  affair.  His  room,  like  your  own,  is  so 
much  out  of  the  way,  that  the  poor  fellow  gives  very  little  trou 
ble  to  tke  great  body  of  the  boarders." 

"  Ay,  very  little  trouble  to  you,  and  the  rest  of  you,  in  the 
main  building ;  but  a  great  deal  to  me.  I  shall  speak  to  Mrs. 
Horton  on  the  subject,  as  we  pass  out." 

"  Better  not,  'Squire.  The  woman  is  our  friend  now,  I  know ; 
but  a  warm  word  may  turn  her  to  the  right-about." 

It  is  probable  Dunscomb  was  influenced  by  his  companion ; 
for  he  left  the  house  without  putting  his  threat  in  execution.  In 
a  few  minutes  he  and  Timms  were  at  the  gaol.  As  counsel  could 
not  well  be  refused  admission  to  their  client  on  the  eve  of  trial, 
the  two  lawyers  were  admitted  to  the  gallery  within  the  outer 
door  that  has  been  so  often  mentioned.  Of  course,  Mary  Monson 
was  notified  of  the  visit ;  and  she  received  them  with  Anna  Up- 
dyke,  the  good,  gentle,  considerate  Anna,  who  was  ever  disposed 
to  help  the  weak  and  to  console  the  unhappy,  at  her  side.  Duns- 
comb  had  no  notion  that  the  intimacy  had  grown  to  this  head , 
but  when  he  came  to  reflect  that  one  of  the  parties  was  to  be 
tried  for  her  life  next  day,  he  was  disposed  to  overlook  the  mani 
fest  indiscretion  of  his  old  favourite  in  being  in  such  a  place. 
Mrs.  McBrain's  presence  released  him  from  all  responsibility; 
and  he  returned  the  warm  pressure  of  Anna's  hand  in  kindness, 
if  not  with  positive  approbation.  As  for  the  girl  herself,  the 
very  sight  of  "  Uncle  Tom,"  as  she  had  so  long  been  accustomed 
to  call  the  counsellor,  cheered  her  heart,  and  raised  new  hopes  in 
behalf  of  her  friend. 

In  a  few  clear,  pointed  words,  Dunscomb  let  the  motive  of  his 
visit  be  known.  There  was  little  time  to  throw  away,  and  he 
went  directly  at  his  object,  stating  everything  succinctly,  but  in 
the  most  intelligible  manner.  Nothing  could  have  been  more 
calm  than  the  manner  in  which  Mary  Monson  listened  to  his 
statement  j  her  deportment  being  as  steady  as  that  of  one  sitting 


THE  WAYS   OF   THE   HOUR,  305 

in  judgment  herself,  rather  than  that  of  a  person  whose  own  fate 
was  involved  in  the  issue. 

"  It  is  a  large  sum  to  raise  in  so  short  a  time/'  continued  the 
kind-hearted  I>unscomb ;  "  but  I  deem  the  proposition  so  impor 
tant  to  your  interest;  that,  rather  than  lose  this  advantage,  I 
would  not  hesitate  about  advancing  the  money  myself,  should 
you  be  unprepared  for  so  heavy  a  demand." 

"As  respects  the  money,  Mr.  Dunscomb/'  returned  the  fair 
prisoner,  in  the  most  easy  and  natural  manner,  "  that  need  give 
us  no  concern.  By  sending  a  confidential  messenger  to  town  — 
Mr.  John  Wilmeter,  for  instance"  — here  Anna  pressed  less 
closely  to  her  friend's  side — "  it  would  be  very  easy  to  have  five 
hundred  eagles  or  a  thousand  half-eagles  here,  by  breakfast-time 
to-morrow,  It  is  not  on  account  of  any  such  difficulty  that  I 
hesitate  a  moment.  What  I  dislike  is  the  injustice  of  the  thing. 
I  have  never  touched  a  cent  of  poor  Mrs.  Goodwin's  hoard ;  and 
it  would  be  false  to  admit  that  I  am  returning  that  which  I  never 
received." 

"  We  must  not  be  particular,  ma'am,  on  immaterial  points, 
when  there  is  so  much  at  stake." 

"  It  may  be  immaterial  whether  I  pay  money  under  one  form 
or  another,  Mr.  Dunscomb ;  but  it  cannot  be  immaterial  to  my 
future  standing,  whether  I  am  acquitted  in  the  teeth  of  this  Mr. 
Williams' s  opposition,  or  under  favour  of  his  purchase." 

"  Acquitted !  Our  case  is  not  absolutely  clear,  Miss  Monson — 
it  is  my  duty  to  tell  you  as  much!" 

"  I  understand  such  to  be  the  opinion  of  both  Mr.  Timms  and 
yourself,  sir ;  I  like  the  candour  of  your  conduct,  but  am  not 
converted  to  your  way  of  thinking.  I  shall  be  acquitted,  gentle 
men —  yes,  honourably,  triumphantly  acquitted;  and  I  cannot 
consent  to  lessen  the  impression  of  such  a  termination  to  my 
affair,  by  putting  myself  in  the  way  of  being  even  suspected  of  a 
collusion  with  a  man  like  this  saucy  Williams.  It  id  far  bettei 


306  THE   WAYS    CF   THE   HOUR. 

to  meet  him  openly,  and  to  defy  him  to  do  his  worst.  Perhaps 
some  such  trial,  followed  by  complete  success,  will  be  necessary 
to  my  future  happiness/' 

Anna  now  pressed  nearer  to  the  side  of  her  friend ;  passing  an 
arm,  unconsciously  to  herself,  around  her  waist.  As  for  Duns- 
comb,  he  gazed  at  the  handsome  prisoner  in  a  sort  of  stupefied 
wonder.  The  place,  the  hour,  the  business  of  the  succeeding 
day,  and  all  the  accessories  of  the  scene,  had  an  effect  to  increase 
the  confusion  of  his  mind,  and,  for  the  moment,  to  call  in  ques 
tion  the  fidelity  of  his  senses.  As  he  gazed  at  the  prison-like 
aspect  of  the  gallery,  his  eye  fell  on  the  countenance  of  Marie 
Moulin,  and  rested  there  in  surprise  for  half  a  minute.  The 
Swiss  maid  was  looking  earnestly  at  her  mistress,  with  an  ex 
pression  of  concern  and  of  care  so  intense,  that  it  caused  the 
counsellor  to  search  for  their  cause.  For  the  first  time  it  flashed 
on  his  mind  that  Mary  Monson  might  be  a  lunatic,  and  that  the 
defence  so  often  set  up  in  capital  cases  as  to  weary  the  common 
mind,  might  be  rendered  justly  available  in  this  particular  in 
stance.  The  whole  conduct  of  this  serving-woman  had  been  so 
singular;  the  deportment  of  Mary  Monson  herself  was  so  much 
out  of  the  ordinary  rules ;  and  the  adhesion  of  Anna  Updyke, 
a  girl  of  singular  prudence  of  conduct,  notwithstanding  her  dis 
position  to  enthusiasm,  so  marked,  that  the  inference  was  far 
from  unnatural.  Nevertheless,  Mary  Monson  had  never  looked 
more  calm,  more  intellectual ;  never  manifested  more  of  a  mien 
of  high  intelligence,  than  at  that  very  instant.  The  singular 
illumination  of  the  countenance  to  which  we  have  had  occasion 
already  to  allude,  was  conspicuous,  but  it  was  benignant  and 
quiet;  and  the  flush  of  the  cheeks  added  lustre  to  her  eyes. 
Then  the  sentiments  expressed  were  just  and  noble,  free  from 
the  cunning  and  mendacity  of  a  maniac ;  and  such  as  any  man 
might  be  proud  to  have  the  wife  of  his  bosom  entertain.  All 
these  considerations  quickly  chased  the  rising  distrust  from  Duns- 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       307 

comb's  mind,  and  his  thoughts  reverted  to  the  business  that  had 
brought  him  there. 

"  You  are  the  best  judge,  ma'am,  of  what  will  most  contribute 
to  your  happiness/'  rejoined  the  counsellor,  after  a  brief  pause. 
"  In  the  ignorance  in  which  we  are  kept  of  the  past,  I  might 
well  add,  the  only  judge ;  though  it  is  possible  that  your  female 
companions  know  more,  in  this  respect,  than  your  legal  advisers. 
It  is  proper  I  should  say,  once  more,  and  probably  for  the  last 
time,  that  your  case  will  be  greatly  prejudiced  unless  you  enable 
us  to  dwell  on  your  past  life  freely  and  truly." 

"  I  am  accused  of  murdering  an  unoffending  female  and  her 
husband ;  of  setting  fire  to  the  dwelling,  and  of  robbing  them  of 
their  gold.  These  are  accusations  that  can  properly  be  answered 
only  by  a  complete  acquittal,  after  a  solemn  investigation.  No 
half-way  measures  will  do.  I  must  be  found  not  guilty,  or  a  blot 
rests  on  my  character  for  life.  My  position  is  singular  —  I  had 
almost  said  cruel  —  in  some  respects  owing  to  my  own  wilful- 
ness " 

Here  Anna  Updyke  pressed  closer  to  her  friend's  side,  as  if 
she  would  defend  her  against  these  self-accusations ;  while  Marie 
Moulin  dropped  her  needle,  and  listened  with  the  liveliest 
curiosity. 

"  In  many  respects,  perhaps,"  continued  Mary,  after  a  short 
pause,  "  and  I  must  take  the  consequences.  Wilfulness  has  ever 
been  my  greatest  enemy.  It  has  been  fed  by  perfect  independ 
ence  and  too  much  money.  I  doubt  if  it  be  good  for  woman  to 
be  thus  tried.  We  were  created  for  dependence,  Mr.  Dunscomb ; 
dependence  on  our  fathers,  on  our  brothers,  and  perhaps  on  our 
husbands"  —  here  there  was  another  pause ;  and  the  cheeks  of 
the  fair  speaker  flushed,  while  her  eyes  became  brilliant  to  light. 

"Perhaps  !"  repeated  the  counsellor,  with  solemn  emphasis. 

"I  know  that  men  think  differently  from  us  on  this  sub 
ject » 


1  a  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  From  MS  —  do  you  desire  me  to  believe  that  most  women 
Wish  to  be  independent  of  their  husbands?  Ask  the -young 
tzoman  at  your  side,  if  that  be  her  feeling  of  the  duties  of  her 
sex." 

Anna  dropped  her  head  on  her  bosom,  and  blushed  scarlet 
In  all  her  day-dreams  of  happiness  with  John  Wilmeter,  the  very 
reverse  of  the  feeling  now  alluded  to,  had  been  uppermost  in  her 
mind ;  and  to  her  nothing  had  ever  seemed  half  as  sweet  as  the 
picture  of  leaning  on  him  for  support,  guidance,  authority,  and 
advice.  The  thought  of  independence  would  have  been  painful 
to  her ;  for  a  principle  of  nature,  the  instinct  of  her  sex,  taught 
her  that  the  part  of  woman  was  "  to  love,  honour,  and  obey."  As 
for  Mary  Monson,  she  quailed  a  little  before  the  severe  eye  of 
Dunscomb ;  but  education,  the  accidents  of  life,  and  possibly  a 
secret  principle  of  her  peculiar  temperament,  united  to  stimulate 
her  to  maintain  her  original  ground. 

"  I  know  not  what  may  be  the  particular  notions  of  Miss  Up- 
dyke,"  returned  this  singular  being,  "but  I  can  feel  my  own 
longings.  They  are  all  for  independence.  Men  have  not  dealt 
fairly  by  women.  Possessing  the  power,  they  have  made  all  the 
laws,  fashioned  all  the  opinions  of  the  world,  in  their  own  favour. 
Let  a  woman  err,  and  she  can  never  rise  from  her  fall ;  while 
men  live  with  impunity  in  the  midst  of  their  guilt.  If  a  woman 
think  differently  from  those  around  her,  she  is  expected  to  con 
ceal  her  opinions,  in  order  to  receive  those  of  her  masters.  Even 
in  the  worship  of  God,  the  highest  and  most  precious  of  all  our 
duties,  she  is  expected  to  play  a  secondary  part,  and  act  as  if  the 
Christian  Faith  favoured  the  sentiment  of  another,  which  teaches 
that  women  have  no  souls." 

"  All  this  is  as  old  as  the  repinings  of  a  very  treacherous  na 
ture,  young  lady,"  answered  Dunscomb,  coolly;  "and  I  have 
often  heard  it  before.  It  is  not  surprising,  however,  that  a  young, 
handsome,  highly-educated,  and  I  presume  rich,  person  of  your 


THE    WA;YS    OF    THE    HOUR.  309 

sex,  should  be  seduced  by  notions  seemingly  so  attractive,  and 
long  for  what  she  will  be  apt  to  term  the  emancipation  of  hei 
sex.  This  is  an  age  of  emancipation ;  prudent  grey-headed  men 
become  deluded,  and  exhibit  their  folly  by  succumbing  to  a  wild 
and  exceedingly  silly  philanthropical  hurrah !  Even  religion  is 
emancipated !  There  are  churches,  it  is  true ;  but  they  exist  as 
appendages  of  society,  instead  of  being  divine  institutions,  estab 
lished  for  the  secret  purposes  of  unerring  wisdom ;  and  we  hear 
men  openly  commending  this  or  that  ecclesiastical  organization, 
because  it  has  more  or  less  of  the  savour  of  republicanism.  But 
one  new  dogma  remains  to  be  advanced  —  that  the  government 
of  the  universe  is  democratical  —  in  which  the  'music  of  the 
spheres'  is  a  popular  song ;  and  the  disappearance  of  a  world  a 
matter  to  be  referred  to  the  people  in  their  primary  capacity. 
Among  other  absurdities  of  the  hour  is  a  new  law,  giving  to 
married  women  the  control  of  their  property,  and  drawing  a  line 
of  covetousness  across  the  bolster  of  every  marriage  bed  in  the 
State  1" 

"  Surely,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  a  man  of  your  integrity,  character, 
manliness,  and  principles,  would  defend  the  weaker  sex  in  the 
maintenance  of  its  rights  against  prodigality,  tyranny,  and  ne 
glect!" 

"  These  are  so  many  words,  my  dear  ma'am,  and  are  totally 
without  meaning,  when  thoroughly  sifted.  God  created  woman 
to  be  a  help-meet  to  man — to  comfort,  solace,  and  aid  him  in  his 
pursuit  after  worldly  happiness ;  but  always  in  a  dependent  rela 
tion.  The  marriage  condition,  viewed  in  its  every-day  aspect,  has 
sufficient  causes  of  disagreement,  without  drawing  in  this  of  pro 
perty.  One  of  the  dearest  and  nearest  of  its  ties,  indeed,  that 
of  a  perfect  identification  of  interests,  is  at  once  cut  off  by  this 
foolish,  not  to  say  wicked  attempt  to  light  the  torch  of  contention 
in  every  household.  It  were  better  to  teach  our  women  not  to 
throw  themselves  away  on  men  who  cannot  be  trusted ;  to  incul- 


310  THE  WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

cate  the  necessity  of  not  marrying  in  haste  to  repent  at  leisure, 
than  to  tinker  the  old,  venerable,  and  long-tried  usages  of  our 
fathers,  by  crotchets  that  come  far  more  from  the  feverish  auda 
city  of  ignorance,  than  from  philosophy  or  wisdom.  Why,  unlesa 
the  courts  interpose  their  prudence  to  rectify  the  blunders  of  the 
legislature,  as  they  have  already  done  a  hundred  times,  the 
labourer's  wife  may  have  her  action  against  her  husband  for  the 
earthen  bowl  he  has  broken ;  and  the  man  may  be  sued  by  the 
wife  for  rent !  The  happiness  of  every  home  is  hourly  put  in 
jeopardy,  in  order  that,  now  and  then,  a  wife  may  be  saved  from 
the  courses  of  a  speculator  or  a  spendthrift." 

"  Might  not  this  have  been  done  before,  uncle  Tom,  by  meana 
of  settlements?"  asked  Anna,  with  interest. 

"  Certainly ;  and  that  it  is  which  renders  all  this  silly  quackery 
so  much  the  worse.  In  those  cases  in  which  the  magnitude  of 
the  stake  might  seem  to  demand  extraordinary  care,  the  means 
already  existed  for  providing  all  useful  safeguards ;  and  any  new 
legislation  was  quite  unnecessary.  This  very  law  will  produce 
twenty-fold  more  unhappiness  in  families,  than  it  will  prevent  of 
misery,  by  setting  up  distinct,  and  often  conflicting  interests, 
among  those  who  ought  to  live  as  l  bone  of  their  bone,  and  flesh 
of  their  flesh." 

"  You  do  not  give  to  woman  her  proper  place  in  society,  Mr. 
Dunscomb,"  returned  Mary  Monson,  haughtily;  "your  com 
ments  are  those  of  a  bachelor.  I  have  heard  of  a  certain  Miss 
Millington,  who  once  had  an  interest  with  you,  and  who,  if  living, 
would  have  taught  you  juster  sentiments  on  this  subject." 

Dunscomb  turned  as  white  as  a  sheet;  his  hand  and  lip  qui 
vered  ;  and  all  desire  to  continue  the  discourse  suddenly  left  him. 
The  gentle  Anna,  ever  attentive  to  his  wishes  and  ailings,  stole 
to  his  side,  silently  offering  a  glass  of  water.  She  had  seen  this 
agitation  before,  and  knew  there  was  a  leaf  in  "  Uncle  Tom's*' 
history  that  he  did  not  wish  every  vulgar  eye  to  read. 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  ,511 

As  for  Mary  Monson,  she  went  into  her  cell,  like  one  who  de 
clined  any  further  communication  with  her  counsel.  Timnis  was 
struck  with  her  lofty  and  decided  manner ;  but  stood  too  much 
in  awe  of  her,  to  interpose  a  remonstrance.  After  a  few  minutes 
taken  by  Dunscomb  to  regain  his  self-command,  and  a  brief  con 
sultation  together,  the  two  lawyers  quitted  the  prison.  All  this 
time,  the  accused  remained  in  her  cell,  in  resentful  silence, 
closely  and  anxiously  watched  by  the  searching  eye  of  her  senior 
attendant 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

«  Methinks,  if,  as  I  gueae,  the  fault 's  but  small, 
It  might  be  pardoned." 

The  Orphan. 

PERHAPS  no  surer  test  of  high  principles,  as  it  is  certain  no 
more  accurate  test  of  high  breeding  can  be  found,  than  a  distaste 
for  injurious  gossip.  In  woman,  subject  as  she  is  unquestionably 
by  her  education,  habits,  and  active  curiosity,  to  the  influence  of 
this  vice,  its  existence  is  deplorable,  leading  to  a  thousand  wrongs, 
among  the  chief  of  which  is  a  false  appreciation  of  ourselves; 
but,  when  men  submit  to  so  vile  a  propensity,  they  become  con 
temptible,  as  well  as  wicked.  As  a  result  of  long  observation, 
we  should  say  that  those  who  are  most  obnoxious  to  the  just 
condemnation  of  the  world,  are  the  most  addicted  to  finding  faults 
in  others ;  and  it  is  only  the  comparatively  good,  who  are  so  be 
cause  they  are  humble,  that  abstain  from  meddling  and  dealing 
in  scandal. 

When  one  reflects  on  the  great  amount  of  injustice  that  is  thus 
inflicted,  without  even  the  most  remote  hope  of  reparation,  how 
far  a  loose,  ill-considered  and  ignorant  remark  will  float  on  the 
tongues  of  the  idle,  how  much  unmerited  misery  is  oftentimes 
entailed  by  such  unweighed  assertions  and  opinions,  and  how 
small  is  the  return  of  benefit  in  any  form  whatever,  it  would 
almost  appear  a  necessary  moral  consequence  that  the  world,  by 
general  consent,  would  determine  to  eradicate  so  pernicious  an 
evil,  in  the  common  interest  of  mankind.  That  it  does  not,  is 

(312) 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  313 

probably  owing  to  the  power  that  is  still  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
Father  of  Sin,  by  the  Infinite  Wisdom  that  has  seen  fit  to  place 
us  in  this  condition  of  trial.  The  parent  of  all  lies,  gossip,  is 
one  of  the  most  familiar  of  the  means  he  employs  to  put  his 
falsehoods  in  circulation. 

This  vice  is  heartless  and  dangerous  when  confined  to  its  natural 
limits,  the  circles  of  society ;  but,  when  it  invades  the  outer  walks 
of  life,  and,  most  of  all,  when  it  gets  mixed  up  with  the  admi 
nistration  of  justice,  it  becomes  a  tyrant  as  ruthless  and  injurious 
in  its  way,  as  he  who  fiddled  while  Rome  was  in  flames.  "We 
have  no  desire  to  exaggerate  the  evils  of  the  state  of  society  in 
which  we  live ;  but  an  honest  regard  to  truth  wilL,  we  think,  in 
duce  every  observant  man  to  lament  the  manner  in  which  this 
power,  under  the  guise  of  popular  opinion,  penetrates  into  all  the 
avenues  of  the  courts,  corrupting,  perverting,  and  often  destroy 
ing,  the  healthful  action  of  their  systems. 

Biberry  furnished  a  clear  example  of  the  truth  of  these  remarks 
on  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  Mary  Monson  was  to  be  tried. 
The  gaol-window  had  its  crowd  of  course ;  and  though  the  dispo 
sition  of  curtains,  and  other  similar  means  of  concealment,  com 
pletely  baffled  vulgar  curiosity,  they  could  not  cloak  the  resentful 
feelings  to  which  this  reserve  gave  birth.  Most  of  those  who 
were  drawn  thither  belonged  to  a  class  who  fancied  it  was  not 
affliction  enough  to  be  accused  of  two  of  the  highest  crimes 
known  to  the  laws ;  but  that  to  this  grievous  misfortune  should  be 
added  a  submission  to  the  stare  of  the  multitude.  It  was  the  people's 
laws  the  accused  was  supposed  to  have  disregarded ;  and  it  was 
their  privilege  to  anticipate  punishment,  by  insult. 

"  Why  don't  she  show  herself,  and  let  the  public  look  on  her  ?" 
demanded  one  curious  old  man,  whose  head  had  whitened  under 
a  steadily  increasing  misconception  of  what  the  rights  of  this 
public  were.  "I've  seen  murderers  afore  now,  and  ain't  a  bit 
afeard  on  'em,  if  they  be  well  ironed  and  look'd  a'ter." 

14 


314  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

This  sally  produced  a  heartless  laugh ;  for,  sooth  to  say,  where 
one  feels,  under  such  circumstances,  as  reason,  and  justice,  and 
revelation  would  tell  them  to  feel,  ten  feel  as  the  demons  prompt. 

"  You  cannot  expect  that  a  lady  of  fashion,  who  plays  on  the 
harp  and  talks  French,  will  show  her  pretty  face  to  be  gazed  at 
by  common  folk,"  rejoined  a  shabby-genteel  sort  of  personage, 
out  of  whose  waistcoat-pocket  obtruded  the  leaves  of  a  small  note 
book,  and  the  end  of  a  gold  pen.  This  man  was  a  reporter,  ren 
dered  malignant  by  meeting  with  opposition  to  his  views  of 
imagining  that  the  universe  was  created  to  furnish  paragraphs  for 
newspapers.  He  was  a  half-educated  European,  who  pronounced 
all  his  words  in  a  sort  of  boarding-school  dialect,  as  if  abbrevia 
tion  offended  a  taste  'sicken'd  over  by  learning/ 

Another  laugh  succeeded  this  supercilious  sneer;  and  three  or 
four  lads,  half-grown  and  clamorous,  called  aloud  the  name  of 
"  Mary  Monson,"  demanding  that  she  should  show  herself.  At 
that  moment  the  accused  was  on  her  knees,  with  Anna  Updyke 
at  her  side,  praying  for  that  support  which,  as  the  crisis  arrived, 
she  found  to  be  more  and  more  necessary ! 

Changing  from  the  scene  to  the  open  street,  we  find  a  petti 
fogger,  one  secretly  prompted  by  Williams,  spreading  a  report 
that  had  its  origin  no  one  knew  where,  but  which  was  gradually 
finding  its  way  to  the  ears  of  half  the  population  of  Duke's,  ex 
citing  prejudice  and  inflicting  wrong. 

"  It 's  the  curi'stest  story  I  ever  heard,"  said  Sam  Tongue,  as 
the  pettifogger  was  usually  styled,  though  his  real  name  was 
Hubbs;  "  and  one  so  hard  to  believe,  that,  though  I  tell  it,  I  call 
on  no  man  to  believe  it.  You  see,  gentlemen"  —  the  little  group 
around  him  was  composed  of  suitors,  witnesses,  jurors,  grand- 
jurors,  and  others  of  a  stamp  that  usually  mark  these  several 
classes  of  men — "that  the  account  now  is,  that  this  Mary  Mon- 
gon  was  sent  abroad  for  her  schoolin'  when  only  ten  years  old; 
and  that  she  staid  in  the  old  countries  long  enough  to  Tarn  to 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  315 

play  the  harp,  and  other  deviltries  of  the  same  natur'.  It  ;s  a 
misfortin',  as  I  say,  for  any  young  woman  to  be  sent  out  of 
Ameriky  for  an  edication.  Edication,  as  everybody  knows,  is  the 
great  glory  of  our  country ;  and  a  body  would  think  that  what 
can't  be  1'arn't  here,  isn't  worth  knowinV 

This  sentiment  was  well  received,  as  would  be  any  opinion 
that  asserted  American  superiority,  with  that  particular  class  of 
listeners.  Eye  turned  to  eye,  nod  answered  nod,  and  a  murmur 
expressive  of  approbation  passed  through  the  little  crowd. 

"  But  there  was  no  great  harm  in  that,"  put  in  a  person  named 
Hicks,  who  was  accustomed  to  connect  consequences  with  their 
causes,  and  to  trace  causes  down  to  their  consequences.  "  Any 
body  might  have  been  edicated  in  France  as  well  as  Mary  Mon- 
son.  TJiat  will  hardly  tell  ag'in  her  on  the  trial." 

"  I  didn't  say  it  would,"  answered  Sam  Tongue ;  "  though  it 's 
gin 'rally  conceded  that  France  is  no  country  for  religion  or  true 
freedom.  Give  me  religion  and  freedom,  say  Ij  a  body  can  get 
along  with  bad  crops,  or  disapp'intments  in  gin'ral,  so  long  as  he 
has  plenty  of  religion  and  plenty  of  freedom." 

Another  murmur,  another  movement  in  the  group,  and  other 
nods  denoted  the  spirit  in  which  this  was  received  too. 

"All  this  don't  make  ag'in  Mary  Monson;  'specially  as  you 
say  she  was  sent  abroad  so  young.  It  wasn't  her  fault  if  her 
parents " 

"  She  had  no  parents — there 's  the  great  mystery  of  her  case. 
Never  had,  so  far  as  can  be  discovered.  A  gal  without  parents, 
without  fri'nds  of  any  sort,  is  edicated  in  a  foreign  land,  Tarns  to 
speak  foreign  tongues,  plays  on  foreign  music,  and  comes  home 
a'ter  she 's  grown  up,  with  her  pockets  as  full  as  if  she  'd  been 
to  Californy  and  met  a  vein ;  and  no  one  can  tell  where  it  all 
come  from !" 

"  Well,  that  won't  tell  ag'in  her,  ne'ther,"  rejoined  Hicks,  who 
had  now  defended  the  accused  so  much  that  he  began  to  take  an 


316  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR 

interest  in  her  acquittal.  "  Evidence  must  be  direct,  and  have  a 
p'int,  to  tell  ag'in  man  or  woman.  As  for  Californy,  it 's  made 
lawful  by  treaty,  if  Congress  will  only  let  it  alone." 

"  I  know  that  as  well  as  the  best  lawyer  in  Duke's ;  but  cha 
racter  can  tell  ag'in  an  accused,  as  is  very  likely  to  be  shown  in 
the  Oyer  and  Tarminer  of  this  day.  Character  counts,  let  me 
tell  you,  when  the  facts  get  a  little  confused ;  and  this  is  just 
what  I  was  about  to  say.  Mary  Monson  has  money ;  where  does 
it  come  from?0 

"  Those  that  think  her  guilty  say  that  it  comes  from  poor  Mrs. 
Goodwin's  stocking"  returned  Hicks,  with  a  laugh;  "but,  for 
my  part,  I  've  seen  that  stocking  and  am  satisfied  it  didn't  hold 
five  hundred  dollars,  if  it  did  four." 

Here  the  reporter  out  with  his  notes,  scribbling  away  for  some 
time.  That  evening  a  paragraph,  a  little  altered  to  give  it  point 
and  interest,  appeared  in  an  evening  paper,  in  which  the  conflict 
ing  statements  of  Tongue  and  Hicks  were  so  presented,  that 
neither  of  these  worthies  could  have  recognised  his  own  child. 
That  paper  was  in  Biberry  next  morning,  and  had  no  inconsider 
able  influence,  ultimately,  on  the  fortunes  of  the  accused. 

In  the  bar-room  of  Mrs.  Horton,  the  discussion  was  also  lively 
and  wily  on  this  same  subject.  As  this  was  a  place  much  fre 
quented  by  the  jurors,  the  agents  of  Timms  and  Williams  were 
very  numerous  in  and  around  that  house.  The  reader  is  not  to 
suppose  that  these  men  admitted  directly  to  themselves  even,  the 
true  character  of  the  rascally  business  in  which  they  were  en 
gaged  ;  for  their  employers  were  much  too  shrewd  not  to  cover, 
to  a  certain  degree,  the  deformity  of  their  own  acts.  One  set 
had  been  told  that  they  were  favouring  justice,  bringing  down 
aristocratic  pride  to  the  level  of  the  rights  of  the  mass,  demon 
strating  that  this  was  a  free  country,  by  one  of  the  very  vilest 
procedures  that  ever  polluted  the  fountains  of  justice  at  their 
Very  source.  On  the  other  hand,  the  agents  of  Timms  had  been 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  317 

persuaded  that  they  were  working  in  behalf  of  a  persecuted  and 
injured  wcfenan,  who  was  pressed  upon  by  the  well-known  avarice 
of  the  nephew  of  the  G-oodwins,  and  who  was  in  danger  of  be 
coming  the  victim  of  a  chain  of  extraordinary  occurrences  that 
had  thrown  her  into  the  meshes  of  the  law.  It  is  true,  this 
reasoning  was  backed  by  liberal  gifts ;  which,  however,  were  made 
to  assume  the  aspect  of  compensation  fairly  earned ;  for  the  biggest 
villain  going  derives  a  certain  degree  of  satisfaction  in  persuading 
himself  that  he  is  acting  under  the  influence  of  motives  to  which 
he  is,  in  truth,  a  stranger.  The  homage  which  vice  pays  to  virtue 
is  on  a  much  more  extended  scale  than  is  commonly  supposed. 

Williams' s  men  had  much  the  best  of  it  with  the  mass.  They 
addressed  themselves  to  prejudices  as  wide  as  the  dominion  of 
man ;  and  a  certain  personal  zeal  was  mingled  with  their  cupidity. 
Then  they  had,  by  far,  the  easiest  task.  He  who  merely  aids  the 
evil  principles  of  our  nature,  provided  he  conceal  the  cloven  foot, 
is  much  more  sure  of  finding  willing  listeners  than  he  who  looks 
for  support  in  the  good.  A  very  unusual  sort  of  story  was  circu 
lated  in  this  bar-room  at  the  expense  of  the  accused,  and  which 
carried  with  it  more  credit  than  common,  in  consequence  of  its 
being  so  much  out  of  the  beaten  track  of  events  as  to  seem  to 
set  invention  at  defiance. 

Mary  Monson  was  said  to  be  an  heiress,  well  connected,  and 
well  educated  —  or,  as  these  three  very  material  circumstances 
were  stated  by  the  Williams'  men — "  well  to  do  herself,  of  friends 
well  to  do,  and  of  excellent  schooling."  She  had  been  married 
to  a  person  of  equal  position  in  society,  wealth  and  character,  but 
many  years  her  senior  —  too  many,  the  story  went,  considering 
her  own  time  of  life ;  for  a  great  difference,  when  one  of  the  par 
ties  is  youthful,  is  apt  to  tax  the  tastes  too  severely  —  and  that 
connection  had  not  proved  happy.  It  had  been  formed  abroad, 
and  more  on  foreign  than  on  American  principles ;  the  bridegroom 
being  a  Frenchman.  It  was  what  is  called  a  mariagc  de  raison, 


318  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

made  through  the  agency  of  friends  and  executors,  rather  than 
through  the  sympathies  and  feelings  that  should  alone  bring  man 
and  woman  together  in  this,  the  closest  union  known  to  human 
beings.  After  a  year  of  married  life  abroad,  the  unmatched 
couple  had  come  to  America,  where  the  wife  possessed  a  very 
ample  fortune.  This  estate  the  recently  enacted  laws  gave  solely 
and  absolutely  to  herself;  and  it  soon  became  a  source  of  dissen 
sion  between  man  and  wife.  The  husband,  quite  naturally,  con 
sidered  himself  entitled  to  advise  and  direct,  and,  in  some  measure, 
to  control,  while  the  affluent,  youthful,  and  pretty  wife,  was  in 
disposed  to  yield  any  of  the  independence  she  so  much  prized ; 
but  which,  in  sooth,  was  asserted  in  the  very  teeth  of  one  of  the 
most  salutary  laws  of  nature.  In  consequence  of  this  very  dif 
ferent  manner  of  viewing  the  marriage  relation,  a  coolness  ensued, 
which  was  shortly  followed  by  the  disappearance  of  the  wife. 
This  wife  was  Mary  Monson,  who  had  secreted  herself  in  the 
retired  dwelling  of  the  Goodwins,  while  the  hired  agents  of  her 
husband  were  running  up  and  down  the  land  in  search  of  the 
fugitive  in  places  of  resort.  To  this  account,  so  strange,  and  yet 
in  many  respects  so  natural,  it  was  added  that  a  vein  of  occult 
madness  existed  in  the  lady's  family ;  and  it  was  suggested  that, 
as  so  much  of  her  conduct  as  was  out  of  the  ordinary  course 
might  be  traced  to  this  malady,  so  was  it  also  possible  that  the 
terrible  incidents  of  the  fire  and  the  deaths  were  to  be  imputed 
to  the  same  deep  affliction. 

We  are  far  from  saying  that  any  rumour  expressed  in  the 
terms  we  have  used,  was  circulating  in  Mrs.  Horton's  bar-room ; 
but  one  that  contained  -all  their  essentials  was.  It  is  one  of  the 
curious  effects  of  the  upward  tendency  of  truth  that  almost  every 
effort  to  conceal  it  altogether  fails ;  and  this  at  the  very  time 
when  idle  and  heartless  gossip  is  filling  the  world  with  lies.  The 
tongue  does  a  thousand  times  more  evil  than  the  sword ;  destroys 
more  happiness,  inflicts  more  incurable  wounds,  leaves  deeper 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        31S 

and  more  indelible  scars.  Truth  is  rarely  met  with  unalloyed  by 
falsehood. 

M  This  or  that  unmix' d,  no  mortal  e'er  shall  find" — 

Was  the  judgment  of  Pope  a  century  since;  nor  has  all  the 
boasted  progress  of  these  later  times  induced  a  change.  It  is 
remarkable  that  a  country  which  seems  honestly  devoted  to  im 
provement  of  every  sort,  that  has  a  feverish  desire  to  take  the 
lead  in  the  warfare  against  all  sorts  and  species  of  falsehood, 
gives  not  the  slightest  heed  to  the  necessity  of  keeping  the 
channels  of  intelligence  pure,  as  well  as  open !  Such  is  the  fact ; 
and  it  is  a  melancholy  but  a  just  admission  to  acknowledge  that 
with  all  the  means  of  publicity  preserved  by  America,  there  is 
no  country  in  which  it  is  more  difficult  to  get  unadulterated  truth 
impressed  on  the  common  mind.  The  same  wire  that  transmits 
a  true  account  of  the  price  of  cotton  from  Halifax  to  New  Or 
leans,  carries  a  spark  that  imparts  one  that  is  false.  The  two 
arrive  together;  and  it  is  not  until  each  has  done  its  work  that 
the  real  fact  is  ascertained. 

Notwithstanding  these  undoubted  obstacles  to  the  circulation 
of  unalloyed  truth,  that  upward  tendency  to  which  we  have 
alluded  occasionally  brings  out  clear  and  strong  rays  of  the  divine 
quality,  that  illumine  the  moral  darkness  on  which  they  shine, 
as  the  sun  touches  the  verge  of  the  thunder-cloud.  It  is  in  this 
way  that  an  occasional  report  is  heard,  coming  from  no  one 
knows  where ;  originating  with,  no  one  knows  whom ;  circulating 
in  a  sort  of  under-current  beneath  the  torrents  of  falsehood,  that 
is  singularly,  if  it  be  not  absolutely  correct. 

Of  this  character  was  the  strange  rumour  that  found  its  way 
hito  Biberry  on  the  morning  of  Mary  Monson's  trial,  touching 
the  history  of  that  mysterious  young  woman's  past  life.  Wilmeter 
heard  it,  first,  with  a  pang  of  disappointment,  though  Anna  had 
nearly  regained  her  power  in  his  heart ;  and  this  pang  was  imme- 


320  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

diately  succeeded  by  unbounded  surprise.  He  told  the  tale  to 
Millington ;  and  together  they  endeavoured  to  trace  the  report 
to  something  like  its  source.  All  efforts  of  this  nature  were  in 
vain.  One  had  heard  the  story  from  another ;  but  no  one  could 
say  whence  it  came  originally.  The  young  men  gave  the  pursuit 
up  as  useless;  and  proceeded  together  towards  the  room  of  Timms? 
where  they  knew  Dunscomb  was  to  be  found,  just  at  that  time. 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  a  story  of  this  nature  should  be  in  such 
general  circulation/'  said  John,  "and  no  one  be  able  to  tell  who 
brought  it  to  Biberry.  Parts  of  it  seem  extravagant.  Do  they 
not  strike  you  so,  sir?" 

"  There  is  nothing  too  extravagant  for  some  women  to  do/r 
answered  Millington,  thoughtfully.  "  Now,  on  such  a  person  as- 
Sarah,  or  even  on  Anna  Updyke,  some  calculations  might  be 
made — certain  calculations,  I  might  say;  but,  there  are  women, 
Jack,  on  whom  one  can  no  more  depend,  than  on  the  constancy 
of  the  winds. " 

"  I  admire  your  — { even  on  Anna  Updyke  !' " 

"  Do  you  not  agree  with  me  ?  "  returned  the  unobservant  Mil 
lington.  "  I  have  always  considered  Sarah's  friend  as  a  particttr 
larly  reliable  and  safe  sort  of  person. 

"  Even  on  Anna  Updyke  !  —  and  a  particularly  reliable  and 
safe  sort  of  person  ! — You  have  thought  this,  Mike,  because  she- 
is  Sarah's  bosom  friend!" 

"  That  may  have  prejudiced  me  in  her  favour,  I  will  allow  £ 
for  I  like  most  things  that  Sarah  likes." 

John  looked  at  his  friend  and  future  brother-in-law  with  an 
amused  surprise ;  the  idea  of  liking  Anna  Updyke  on  any  account 
but  her  own,  striking  him  as  particularly  absurd.  But  they  were 
soon  at  Timms's  door,  and  the  conversation  dropped  as  a  matter 
of  course. 

No  one  who  has  ever  travelled  much  in  the  interior  of  Ame» 
rica,  can  easily  mistake  the  character  of  one  of  the  small  edifice^ 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  321 

witli  the  gable  to  the  street,  ornamented  with  what  aro  erro 
neously  termed  Yenitian  blinds,  painted  white,  and  with  an  air 
of  tobacco-smoke  and  the  shabby-genteel  about  it,  notwithstand 
ing  its  architectural  pretensions.  This  is  a  lawyer's  office,  thus 
brought  edgeways  to  the  street,  as  if  its  owner  felt  the  necessity 
of  approaching  the  thoroughfare  of  the  world  a  little  less  directly 
than  the  rest  of  mankind.  It  often  happens  that  these  buildings, 
small  as  they  usually  are,  contain  two,  or  even  three  rooms ;  and 
that  the  occupants,  if  single  men,  sleep  in  them  as  well  as  trans 
act  their  business.  Such  was  the  case  with  Timms,  his  "  office," 
as  the  structure  was  termed,  containing  his  bed-room,  in  addition 
to  an  inner  and  an  outer  apartment  devoted  to  the  purposes  of 
the  law.  Dunscomb  was  in  the  sanctum,  while  a  single  clerk  and 
three  or  four  clients,  countrymen  of  decent  exterior  and  very 
expecting  countenances,  occupied  the  outer  room.  John  and 
Millington  went  into  the  presence  with  little  or  no  hesitation. 

Wilmeter  was  not  accustomed  to  much  circumlocution;  and 
he  at  once  communicated  the  substance  of  the  strange  rumour 
that  was  in  circulation,  touching  their  interesting  client.  The 
uncle  listened  with  intense  attention,  turning  pale  as  the  nephew 
proceeded.  Instead  of  answering  or  making  any  comment, 'he 
sank  upon  a  chair,  leaned  his  hands  on  a  table  and  his  head  on 
his  hands,  for  fully  a  minute.  All  were  struck  with  these  signs 
of  agitation;  but  no  one  dared  to  interfere.  At  length,  this 
awkward  pause  came  to  a  close,  and  Dunscomb  raised  his  head, 
the  face  still  pale  and  agitated.  His  eye  immediately  sought  that 
of  Millington. 

"You  had  heard  this  story,  Michael?"  demanded  the  coun* 
sellor. 

"  I  had,  sir.  John  and  I  went  together  to  try  to  trace  it  to 
some  authority." 

"With  what  success?" 

"  None  whatever.  It  is  in  every  one's  mouth,  but  no  one  can 
14* 


322  THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

say  whence  it  came.     Most  rumours  have  a  clue,  but  this  seems 
to  have  none." 

"  Do  you  trace  the  connection  which  has  struck  —  which  has 
oppressed  me  V1 

"  I  do,  sir,  and  was  so  struck  the  moment  I  heard  the  rumour ; 
for  the  facts  are  in  singular  conformity  with  what  you  communi 
cated  to  me  some  months  since." 

"  They  are,  indeed,  and  create  a  strong  probability  that  there 
is  more  truth  in  this  rumour  than  is  commonly  to  be  found  in 
such  reports.  What  has  become  of  Timms  ?" 

"  On  the  ground,  'Squire,"  answered  that  worthy  from  the 
outer  room  —  "just  despatching  my  clerk"  —  this  word  he  pro 
nounced  '  clurk'  instead  of  '  dark/  by  way  of  showing  he  knew 
how  to  spell — "with  a  message  to  one  of  my  men.  He  will  find 
him,  and  be  with  us  in  a  minute." 

In  the  mean  time,  Timms  had  a  word  to  say  to  each  client  in 
succession ;  getting  rid  of  them  all  by  merely  telling  each  man, 
in  his  turn,  there  was  not  the  shadow  of  doubt  that  he  would  get 
the  better  of  his  opponent  in  the  trial  that  was  so  near  at  hand. 
It  may  be  said  here,  as  a  proof  how  much  a  legal  prophet  may 
be  mistaken,  Timms  was  subsequently  beaten  in  each  of  these 
three  suits,  to  the  great  disappointment  of  as  many  anxious  hus 
bandmen,  each  of  whom  fondly  counted  on  success,  from  the  oily 
promises  he  had  received. 

In  a  very  few  minutes  the  agent  expected  by  Tmims  appeared 
in  the  office.  He  was  plain-looking,  rather  rough  aad  honest  in 
appearance,  with  a  most  wily,  villanous  leer  of  the  eye.  His 
employer  introduced  him  as  Mr.  Johnson. 

"Well,  Johnson,  what  news?"  commenced  Timms.  " These 
are  friends  to  Mary  Monson,  and  you  can  speak  out,  always 
avoiding  particular  partic'lars." 

Johnson  leered,  helped  himself  to  a  chew  of  tobacco  with 
great  deliberation,  a  trick  he  had  when  he  needed  a  moment  of 


THE  WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  323 

thought  before  he  made  his  revelations ;  bowed  respectfully  to 
the  great  York  lawyer;  took  a  good  look  at  each  of  the  young 
men,  as  if  to  measure  their  means  of  doing  good  or  harm ;  and 
then  condescended  to  reply. 

"  Not  very  good/'  was  the  answer.  "  That  foreign  instrument, 
which  they  say  is  just  such  an  one  as  David  used  when  he  played 
before  Saul,  has  done  a  good  deal  of  harm.  It  won't  do,  'Squire 
Timms,  to  fiddle  off  an  indictment  for  murder !  Mankind  gets 
engaged  in  such  causes ;  and  if  they  desire  music  on  the  trial, 
it's  the  music  of  law  and  evidence  that  they  want." 

"  Have  you  heard  any  reports  concerning  Mary  Monson's  past 
life  ?  —  if  so,  can  you  tell  where  they  come  from  ?" 

Johnson  knew  perfectly  well  whence  a  portion  of  the  rumours 
came ;  those  which  told  in  favour  of  the  accused ;  but  these  he 
easily  comprehended  were  not  the  reports  to  which  Timms 
alluded. 

"  BJberry  is  full  of  all  sorts  of  rumours,"  returned  Johnson, 
cautiously,  "  as  it  commonly  is  in  court-time.  Parties  like  to 
make  the  most  of  their  causes." 

"  You  know  my  meaning  —  we  have  no  time  to  lose  :  answer 
at  once." 

"  I  suppose  I  do  know  what  you  mean,  'Squire  Timms ;  and 
I  have  heard  the  report.  In  my  judgment,  the  person  who  set 
it  afloat  is  no  friend  of  Mary  Monson's." 

"  You  think,  then,  it  will  do  her  damage  ?" 

"  To  the  extent  of  her  neck.  Eve,  before  She  touched  the 
apple,  could  not  have  been  acquitted  in  the  face  of  such  a  ru 
mour.  I  look  upon  your  client  as  a  lost  woman,  'Squire  Timms/' 

"  Does  that  seem  to  be  the  common  sentiment — that  is,  so  far 
as  you  can  judge  ?" 

"  Among  the  jurors  it  does." 

•"  The  jurors  I"  exclaimed  Dunscomb — "  what  can  you  possibly 
know  of  the  opinions  of  the  jurors,  Mr.  Johnson  ?" 


324  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

A  cold  sinile  passed  over  the  man's  face,  and  he  looked  steadily 
at  Timms,  as  if  to  catch  a  clue  that  might  conduct  him  safely 
through  the  difficulties  of  his  ease.  A  frown  that  was  plaiB 
enough  to  the  agent,  though  admirably  concealed  from  all  others 
in  the  room,  told  him  to  be  cautious, 

"  I  only  know  what  I  see  and  hear.  Jurors  are  men,  and  other 
men  can  sometimes  get  an  insight  into  their  feelings,  without 
running  counter  to  law.  I  heard  the  rumour  related  myself,  in? 
the  presence  of  seven  of  the  panel.  It  '$  true,  nothing  was  said 
of  the  murder,  or  the  arson;  but  such  a  history  of  the  previous- 
life  of  the  accused  was  given  as  Lady  Washington  couldn't  have 
stood  up  ag'in,  had  she  been  living  and  on  trial  for  her  life." 

"Was  anything  said  of  insanity?"  asked  Dunseomb. 

"Ah,  that  plea  will  do  no  good,  now-a-days;  it's  worn  out. 
They  'd  hang  a  murderer  from  Bedlam.  Insanity  has  been  over 
done,  and  can't  be  depended  on  any  longer/' 

"Was  anything  said  on  the  subject  ?"  repeated  the  counsellor, 

"  Why,  to  own  the  truth,  there  was ;  but,  as  that  told  for 
Mary  Monson,  and  not  ag'in  her,  it  was  not  pressed." 

"  You  think,  then,  that  the  story  has  been  circulated  by  per 
sons  in  favour  of  the  prosecution?" 

"  I  know  it.  One  of  the  other  side  said  to  me,  not  ten  mi 
nutes  ago — e  Johnson/  said  he — '  we  are  old  friends' — he  always 
speaks  to  me  in  that  familiar  way — '  Johnson/  said  he,  i  you'  d  a 
done  better  to  have  gi'n  up.  What  *s  five  thousand  dollars  to  the 
likes  of  her  ?  and  them  you  know  is  the  figures/' 

"  This  is  a  pretty  exhibition  of  the  manner  of  administering 
justice !"  exclaimed  the  indignant  Dunscomb.  "Long  as  I  have 
been  at  the  bar,  I  had  no  conception  that  such  practices  prevailed. 
At  all  events,  this  illegality  will  give  a  fair  occasion  to  demand  a 
new  trial." 

"'Ay,  the  sharpest  lawyer  that  ever  crossed  Harlem  bridge 
can  Tarn  something  in  old  Duke's/'  said  Johnson,  nodding- 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  825 

*'  'Squire  TImms  will  stand  to  that.  As  for  new  trials,  I  only 
wonder  the  lawyers  don't  get  one  each  time  they  are  beaten ;  for 
the  law  would  bear  them  out." 

"  I  should  like  to  know  how,  Master  Johnson/'  put  in  Timms 
"  That  would  be  a  secret  worth  knowing." 
"A  five-dollar  note  will  buy  it." 
"  There 's  one  of  ten — now,  tell  me  your  secret/' 
"  Well,  'Squire,  you  be  a  gentleman,  whatever  folks  may  say 
and  think  of  you.    I  'd  rather  do  business  with  you,  by  one-half, 
than  do  business  with  Williams ;  notwithstanding  he  has  such  a 
name,  up  and  down  the  country.    Stick  to  it,  and  you  '11  get  the 
nomination  to  the  Sinat' ;  and  the  nomination  secured,  you  're 
sure  of  the  seat.     Nomination  is  the  government  of  Ameriky; 
and  that's  secured  by  a  wonderful  few !" 

"  I  believe  you  are  more  than  half  right,  Johnson"  —  Here 
Dunscomb,  his  nephew,  and  Millington  left  the  office,  quite  un 
noticed  by  the  two  worthies,  who  had  entered  on  a  subject  as 
engrossing  as  that  of  Timms's  elevation  to  the  Senate.  And,  by 
the  way,  as  this  book  is  very  likely  to  be  introduced  to  the  world, 
it  may  be  well  enough  to  explain  that  we  have  two  sorts  of 
"Senates"  in  this  country;  wheels  within  wheels.  There  is  the 
Senate  of  each  State,  without  an  exception  now,  we  believe ;  and 
there  is  the  Senate  of  the  United  States ;  the  last  being,  in  every 
sense,  much  the  most  dignified  and  important  body.  It  being 
unfortunately  true,  that  "  nominations"  are  the  real  people  of 
America,  unless  in  cases  which  arouse  the  nation,  the  State  Se 
nates  very  often  contain  members  altogether  unsuited  to  their 
trusts;  men  who  have  obtained  their  seats  by  party  legerdemain; 
and  who  had  much  better,  on  their  own  account,  as  well  as  on 
that  of  the  public,  be  at  home  attending  to  their  own  private 
affairs.  This  much  may  be  freely  said  by  any  citizen,  of  a  State 
Senate,  a  collection  of  political  partisans  that  commands  no  par 
ticular  respect ;  but,  it  is  very  different  with  that  of  the  United 


326  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

States ;  and  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  saying,  in  reference  to 
that  body,  which  it  is  the  fashion  of  the  times  to  reverence  as 
the  most  illustrious  political  body  on  earth,  that  it  is  not  quite  as 
obnoxious  to  this  judgment  as  the  best  of  its  sisterhood  of  the 
several  States ;  though  very  far  from  being  immaculate,  or  what, 
with  a  little  more  honesty  in  political  leaders,  it  might  be. 

"  I  believe  you  are  half  right,  Johnson,"  answered  Timms  — 
"  Nomination  is  the  government  in  this  country ;  liberty,  people, 
and  all !  Let  a  man  get  a  nomination  on  the  right  side,  and 
he 's  as  good  as  elected.  But,  now  for  this  mode  of  getting  new 
trials,  Johnson?" 

"  Why,  '  Squire,  I  'm  amazed  a  man  of  your  experience  should 
ask  the  question !  The  law  is  sharp  enough  in  keeping  jurors, 
and  constables,  and  door-keepers  in  their  places ;  but  the  jurors, 
and  constables,  and  door-keepers,  don't  like  to  be  kept  in  their 
places ;  and  there  isn't  one  cause  in  ten,  if  they  be  of  any  length, 
in  which  the  jurors  don't  stray,  or  the  constables  don't  get  into 
the  jury-rooms.  You  can't  pound  free-born  Americans  like 
cattle  !" 

"  I  understand  you,  Johnson,  and  will  take  the  hint.  I  knew 
there  was  a  screw  loose  in  this  part  of  our  jurisprudence,  but  did 
not  think  it  as  important  as  I  now  see  it  is.  The  fact  is,  John 
son,  we  have  been  telling  the  people  so  long  that  they  are  per 
fect,  and  every  man  that  he,  in  his  own  person,  is  one  of  these 
people,  that  our  citizens  don't  like  to  submit  to  restraints  that 
are  disagreeable.  Still,  we  are  a  law-abiding  people,  as  every 
one  says." 

"That  may  be  so,  'Squire;  but  we  are  not  jury-room-abiding, 
nor  be  the  constables  outside-of-the-door-abiding,  take  my  word 
for  it.  As  you  say,  sir,  every  man  is  beginning  to  think  he  is  a 
part  of  the  people,  and  a  great  part,  too ;  and  he  soon  gets  tho 
notion  that  he  can  do  as  he  has  a  mind  to  do." 

"Where  is  Mr.  Dunscomb?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  327 

"  He  stepp'd  out  with  the  young  gentlemen,  a  few  moments 
since.  I  dare  say,  'Squire  Timms,  he 's  gone  to  engage  men  to 
talk  down  this  rumour  about  Mary  Monson.  That  job  should 
have  been  mine,  by  rights!" 

"  Not  he,  Johnson — not  he.  Your  grand  lawyers  don't  meddle 
with  such  matters ;  or,  when  they  do,  they  pretend  not  to.  No, 
he  has  gone  to  the  gaol,  and  I  must  follow  him." 

At  the  gaol  was  Dunscomb,  sure  enough.  Mary  Monson, 
Anna  and  Sarah,  with  Marie  Moulin,  all  dressed  for  the  court ; 
the  former  with  beautiful  simplicity,  but  still  more  beautiful 
care ;  the  three  last  plainly,  but  in  attire  well  suited  to  their  re 
spective  stations  in  life.  There  was  a  common  air  of  concern  and 
anxiety ;  though  Mary  Monson  still  maintained  her  self-command. 
Indeed,  the  quiet  of  her  manner  was  truly  wonderful,  for  the 
circumstances. 

"  Providence  has  placed  me  in  a  most  trying  situation,"  she 
said ;  "  but  I  see  my  course.  Were  I  to  shrink  from  this  trial, 
evade  it  in  any  manner,  a  blot  would  rest  on  my  name  as  long  as 
I  am  remembered.  It  is  indispensable  that  I  should  be  acquitted. 
This,  by  God's  blessing  on  the  innocent,  must  come  to  pass,  and 
I  may  go  forth  and  face  my  friends  with  a  quiet  mind." 

"  These  friends  ought  to  be  known,"  answered  Dunscomb, 
'  and  should  be  here  to  countenance  you  with  their  presence." 

"  They !  —  He  !  —  Never  —  while  I  live,  never !" 

"You  see  this  young  man,  Mary  Monson  —  I  believe  he  is 
kno\^n  to  you,  by  name?" 

Mary  Monson  turned  her  face  towards  Millington,  smiled 
coldly,  and  seemed  undisturbed. 

"What  is  he  to  me? — Here  is  the  woman  of  his  heart; — let 
him  turn  to  for,  with  all  his  care." 

"  You  understand  me,  Mary  Monson  —  it  is  important  that  I 
should  be  assured  of  that." 


328  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  Perhaps  I  do,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  and  perhaps  I  do  not.  You 
are  enigmatical  this  morning ;  I  cannot  be  certain." 

u  In  one  short  half-hour  the  bell  of  yonder  court-house  will 
ring,  when  you  are  to  be  tried  for  your  life." 

The  cheek  of  the  accused  blanched  a  little;  but  its  colour 
soon  returned,  while  her  eye  assumed  a  look  even  prouder  than 
tommon. 

"  Let  it  come"  —  was  her  quiet  answer  —  "  the  innocent  need 
not  tremble.  These  two  pure  beings  have  promised  to  accompany 
me  to  the  place  of  trial,  and  to  give  me  their  countenance.  Why, 
then,  should  I  hesitate?" 

"  I  shall  go,  too"  —  said  Millington,  steadily,  like  one  whose 
mind  was  made  up. 

"  You !  —  Well,  for  the  sake  of  this  dear  one,  you  may  go, 
too." 

"For  no  other  reason,  Mary?" 

"  For  no  other  reason,  sir.  I  am  aware  of  the  interest  you 
and  Mr.  Wilmeter  have  taken  in  my  case ;  and  I  thank  you  both 
from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  Ah !  kindness  was  never  lost  on 
me " 

A  flood  of  tears,  for  the  first  time  since  her  imprisonment,  so 
far  as  any  one  knew,  burst  from  this  extraordinary  being ;  and, 
for  a  few  minutes,  she  became  woman  in  the  fullest  meaning  of 
the  term. 

During  this  interval  Dunscomb  retired,  perceiving  that  it  was 
useless  to  urge  anything  on  his  client  while  weeping  almost  con 
vulsively  '}  and  aware  that  he  had  several  things  to  do  before  the 
court  met.  Besides,  he  left  the  place  quite  satisfied  on  an  all- 
important  point;  and  he  and  Millington  walked  by  themselves 
towards  the  court-house,  their  heads  close  together,  and  their 
voices  reduced  nearly  to  whispers. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

«*  I  blush,  and  am  confounded  to  appeal 

Before  thy  presence,  Cato." 
"  What 's  thy  crime  ?" 
"  I  am  a  Numidian." 

Cato. 

WITHIN  the  half  hour  mentioned  by  Dunscomb  the  court-house 
bell  rang,  and  there  was  a  rush  towards  that  building,  in  order  to 
secure  seats  for  the  approaching  trial.  All  that  has  been  related 
in  the  preceding  chapter  occurred  between  the  hours  of  six  and 
nine  that  morning,  it  being  one  of  the  "ways  of  the  hour"  in  the 
march  of  improvement,  to  drive  the  administration  of  justice  with 
as  near  an  approach  to  railroad  speed  as  is  practicable.  Many 
of  the  modern  judges  go  to  work  as  early  as  eight  in  the  morning 
— perhaps  most  do  in  the  country  circuits — and  continue  to  call 
causes  until  nine  and  ten  at  night,  illustrating  the  justice  of  the 
land  by  means  of  agents  who  are  half  asleep,  and  stupid  from 
fatigue. 

We  have  said  that  everything  like  dignity,  except  as  it  is  to 
be  found  in  the  high  character  of  its  duties,  and  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  performed,  has  been  banished  from  the  courts  of 
New  York.  Even  on  this  solemn  occasion,  when  a  human  being 
was  to  be  put  on  trial  for  her  life,  and  she  a  woman,  there  was 
no  departure  from  the  naked  simplicity  that  has  been  set  up  on 
the  pedestal  of  reason,  in  open  opposition  to  the  ancient  accesso 
ries  by  which  the  Law  asserted  its  power.  It  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  human  nature  has  not  been  as  much  over-estimated 

(329) 


330  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

under  the  new  arrangement  as  it  was  underrated  by  the  old. 
There  is  a  medium,  in  truth,  that  it  is  ever  safe  to  respect ;  and 
there  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  in  throwing  away  the  useless 
vestments  of  idle  parade,  those  necessary  to  decency  were  cast 
aside  with  them. 

Quite  a  fourth  of  the  audience  assembled  in  Duke's  county 
court-house,  on  this  occasion,  were  females.  The  curiosity,  which 
is  said  to  be  so  natural  to  the  sex,  was,  on  this  occasion,  quick 
ened  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  case,  a  woman  having 
been  murdered,  and  a  woman  accused  of  having  committed  the 
offence.  It  was  said,  however,  that  many  were  summoned  as 
witnesses,  it  being  generally  understood  that  the  state  had  sub 
poenaed  the  country  far  and  near. 

At  length,  a  general  and  expecting  silence  succeeded  the  bustle 
of  the  crowds  entering  and  obtaining  seats,  and  the  eyes  of  the 
spectators  were  very  generally  turned  towards  the  door,  in  the 
wish  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  principal  personage  in  the  approach 
ing  scene.  We  know  not  why  it  is  that  the  spectacle  of  others' 
woes  has  so  great  a  charm  for  most  persons.  Nature  has  given 
us  sympathy,  and  compassion,  and  a  desire  to  alleviate  misery ; 
yet  most  of  us  like  to  look  upon  it,  as  a  mere  spectacle,  when  we 
have  neither  the  wish  nor  the  power  to  be  more  than  useless 
spectators.  Thousands  will  assemble  to  see  a  man  hanged,  when 
all  know  that  the  law  has  a  grasp  too  tight  to  be  unloosed,  and 
that  the  circle  of  the  gallows  is  no  place  for  feelings  of  commise 
ration.  But,  so  it  is ;  and  many  a  female,  that  day,  who  would 
have  gladly  alleviated  any  distress  that  it  was  in  her  power  to 
lessen,  sat  there,  a  curious  and  interested  observer  of  all  that 
passed ;  to  note  the  workings  of  the  countenance,  the  writhings 
of  the  inner  soul,  if  any  such  there  should  be,  or  the  gleams  of 
hope,  that  might,  at  intervals,  lighten  the  gloom  of  despair. 

The  court  was  occupied  for  half  an  hour  with  hearing  motions, 
t-nd  in  granting  orders,  nothing  seeming  to  impede  its  utilitarian 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  331 

progress.  Then  the  movement  within  the  bar  ceased,  and  an 
expectation  that  was  even  solemn,  fell  on  the  whole  mass  of  hu 
man  beings  that  were  collected  in  that  narrow  space. 

"  This  is  the  day  for  which  the  trial  of  Mary  Monson  was,  by 
arrangement,  set  down,"  observed  the  judge.  "Mr.  District 
Attorney,  are  you  ready  ?" 

"  We  are,  sir — entirely  so,  I  believe.  If  the  court  please,  Mr. 
Williams  and  Mr.  Wright  will  be  associated  with  me  in  this 
case.  It  is  one  of  importance,  and  I  do  not  like  the  responsi 
bility  of  trying  it  alone.' ' 

"The  court  has  so  understood  it  —  who  is  for  the  accused?" 

"I  am  retained  to  defend  Mary  Monson/'  answered  Dun- 
scomb,  rising  with  dignity,  and  speaking  with  the  self-possession 
of  one  long  accustomed  to  the  courts.  "  Mr.  Timms  will  assist 
me." 

"  Are  you  ready,  gentlemen  ?" 

"  I  believe  we  are,  your  honour ;  though  the  prisoner  has  not 
yet  been  arraigned/ 

"Mr.  District  Attorney,  we  will  proceed." 

As  the  sheriff  now  left  the  room,  in  person,  rather  an  unusual 
thing  in  bringing  a  prisoner  into  court,  expectation  was  at  its  height. 
In  the  midst  of  a  breathing  silence,  the  door  swung  round  — 
court-room  doors  are  now  made  to  swing  like  turnpikes,  in  order 
to  prevent  noise  —  and  Mr.  Gott  entered,  followed  by  Mary 
Monson,  Anna,  Sarah,  Marie  Moulin,  and  the  two  young  men. 
The  kind-hearted  wife  of  the  sheriff  was  already  in  the  room, 
and,  by  means  of  a  constable,  had  managed  to  keep  seats  reserved 
for  those  who  might  attend  the  prisoner.  To  these  seats  the 
party  now  retired,  with  the  exception  of  Marie  Moulin,  who  at 
tended  her  mistress  within  the  bar. 

Every  observer  was  struck  with  the  unexpected  air,  manner, 
and  attire  of  the  prisoner.  Dunscomb  saw,  at  a  glance,  that  her 
appearance  had  made  a  most  favourable  impression.  This  was 


332  THE   WAYS   OF   THE   HOUR. 

something,  and  he  hoped  it  might  counteract  much  of  the  ma- 
nosuvring  of  Davis  and  Williams.  The  judge,  in  particular,  a 
kind-hearted  and  very  well  meaning  man,  was  taken  altogether 
by  surprise.  There  is  nothing  in  which  there  is  more  freema 
sonry  than  in  the  secret  symptoms  of  social  castes.  Each  indi 
vidual  is  more  or  less  of  a  judge  of  these  matters,  up  to  the  level 
of  his  own  associations,  while  all  beyond  is  mystery.  It  hap 
pened  that  the  judge,  now  about  to  try  Mary  Monson,  belonged 
to  an  old,  historical,  New  York  family,  a  thing  of  rather  rare 
occurrence  in  the  great  movements  of  the  times,  and  he  possessed 
an  hereditary  tact  in  discerning  persons  of  his  own  habits  of  life. 
Almost  at  a  glance,  he  perceived  that  the  prisoner  had  the  air, 
manners,  countenance  and  finesse,  of  one  accustomed,  from  in 
fancy,  to  good  company.  The  reader  may  smile  at  this,  but  he 
must  pardon  us  if  we  say  the  smile  will  betray  ignorance,  rather 
than  denote  the  philosophy  that  he  may  fancy  controls  his  opi 
nions.  Dunscomb  was  much  gratified  when  the  judge  rather 
earnestly  interposed  against  the  act  of  the  sheriff,  who  was  about 
to  place  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  in  the  little  barricaded  space  al 
lotted  to  the  use  of  ordinary  criminals,  directing  him  to — 

"  Give  the  prisoner  a  chair  within  the  bar,  Mr.  Sheriff.  Gen 
tlemen,  be  so  good  as  to  make  room,  that  the  accused  may  sit 
near  her  counsel.  Mr.  Attorney,  let  the  prisoner  be  arraigned, 
as  soon  as  she  has  rested  from  the  fatigue  and  agitation  of  ap 
pearing  here." 

This  ceremony,  now  little  more  than  a  blank  form,  was  soon 
ended,  and  the  plea  of  "not  guilty"  was  entered.  The  next 
step  was  to  empannel  the  jury,  a  task  of  infinite  difficulty,  and 
one  that  has  got  to  be  so  much  an  out-work,  in  the  proceedings 
in  criminal  cases,  as  almost  to  baffle  the  powers  of  the  law.  It 
is  no  unusual  thing  for  the  time  of  the  court  to  be  occupied  a 
week  or  two,  in  this  preliminary  proceeding,  until  the  evil  has 
got  to  be  so  crying  as  to  induce  the  executive  to  recommend  that 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  833 

the  legislature  may  devise  some  mode  of  relief.  One  of  the 
most  besetting  vices  of  all  American  legislation,  in  those  cases  in 
which  abuses  are  not  the  offspring  of  party,  is  a  false  philan 
thropy,  in  which  the  wicked  and  evil  doer  has  been  protected  at 
the  expense  of  the  upright  and  obedient.  The  abuse  just  men 
tioned  is  one  of  those  in  which  the  bottom  has  been  reached  some 
what  sooner  than  common ;  but,  it  is  hazarding  little  to  predict, 
that  more  than  half  which  has  been  done  within  the  last  few 
years,  under  the  guise  of  liberty  and  philanthropy,  will  have  to 
be  undone,  ere  the  citizen  will  be  left  to  the  quiet  enjoyment  of 
his  rights,  or  can  receive  the  just  protection  of  the  laws. 

One  of  the  common-sense  and  real  improvement?  of  the  day, 
is  to  swear  the  jurors,  in  all  the  causes  that  are  Jo  be  tried,  by 
one  process.  This  is  a  saving  of  time;  and  though  the  cere 
mony  might  be,  and  ought  to  be  made,  much  more  solemn  and 
impressive  than  it  is,  as  by  causing  all  other  business  to  cease, 
and  to  make  every  one  present  rise,  and  stand  in  reverential  si 
lence,  while  the  name  of  the  Grod  of  heaven  and  earth  is  invoked, 
still  it  is  a  great  improvement  on  the  ancient  mode,  and  has  rea 
son  to  sustain  it.  It  gives  us  pleasure  to  note  such  circum 
stances  in  the  "  ways  of  the  hour,"  whenever  a  sense  of  right 
can  induce  one  who  loathes  the  flattery  of  the  people  quite  as 
much  as  he  loathes  that  of  princes,  and  flattery  of  all  sorts,  to  say 
aught  in  favour  of  what  has  been  done,  or  is  yet  doing  around  him. 

The  clerk  called  the  name  of  Jonas  Wattles,  the  first  juror 
drawn.  This  man  was  a  respectable  mechanic,  of  no  great  force 
in  the  way  of  mind,  but  meaning  well,  and  reputed  honest. 
Timms  gave  the  senior  counsel  a  look,  which  the  other  under 
stood  to  mean,  "he  may  do."  No  objection  being  made  on  ac 
count  of  the  state,  Jonas  Wattles  took  his  seat  in  the  jury-box, 
which  was  thought  great  good  luck  for  a  capital  case. 

"  Ira  Trueman,"  cried  the  clerk. 

A  meaning  pause  succeeded  the  announcement  of  this  name. 


334  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

Trueman  was  a  person  of  considerable  local  influence,  and  would 
probably  carry  great  weight  in  a  body  composed  principally  of 
men  even  less  instructed  than  he  was  himself.  What  was  more, 
both  Timms  and  Williams  knew  that  their  respective  agents  had 
been  hard  at  work  to  gain  his  ear,  though  neither  knew  exactly 
with  what  degree  of  success.  It  was  consequently  equally  ha 
zardous  to  accept  or  to  oppose,  and  the  two  legal  gladiators  stood 
at  bay,  each  waiting  for  the  other  to  betray  his  opinion  of  the 
man.  The  judge  soon  became  wearied,  and  inquired  if  the  juror 
was  accepted.  It  was  a  somewhat  amusing  sight,  now,  to  observe 
the  manner  in  which  Timms  proceeded  with  Williams,  and  Wil 
liams  met  Timms. 

"  I  should  like  to  hear  the  gentleman's  objections  to  this  juror," 
observed  Timms,  "  as  I  do  not  see  that  his  challenge  is  peremp 
tory." 

"  I  have  not  challenged  the  juror  at  all,"  answered  Williams, 
"  but  have  understood  the  challenge  comes  from  the  defence." 

"  This  is  extr'or'nary  !  The  gentleman  looks  defiance  at  the 
jurors,  and  now  declares  he  does  not  challenge  I" 

"  Looks !  If  looks  made  a  challenge,  the  state  might  at  once 
suffer  these  foul  murders  to  go  unpunished,  for  I  am  sure  the 
gentleman's  countenance  is  a  perfect  thunder-cloud  — " 

"  I  trust  that  counsel  will  recollect  the  gravity  of  this  cause, 
and  suffer  it  to  be  conducted  with  the  decorum  that  ought  never 
to  be  wanting  in  a  court  of  justice,"  interposed  the  judge. 
"  Unless  there  is  a  direct  challenge,  from  one  side  or  the  other, 
the  juror  must  take  his  seat,  of  course." 

"  I  should  like  to  ask  the  juror  a  question  or  two,"  Timms 
replied,  speaking  very  cautiously,  and  like  one  who  was  afraid  of 
hurting  the  feelings  of  the  party  under  examination;  and  in 
truth  wary,  lest  on  investigation  he  might  discover  that  Trueman 
was  likely  to  be  the  sort  of  person  he  wanted.  "  You  have  been 
at  Bibejry,  juror,  since  the  opening  of  the  court  ?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  335 

Trueman  nodded  his  head. 

"Of  course,  you  have  been  round  among  your  friends  and 
neighbours,  that  you  have  met  with  here  ?" 

Another  nod  from  Trueman,  with  a  sort  of  affirmative  grunt. 

"  You  have  probably  heard  more  or  less  said  concerning  Mary 
Monson  —  I  mean  in  a  legal  and  proper  way  1" 

A  third  nod  of  assent. 

"  Can  you  speak  anything,  in  particular,  that  has  been  said  in 
your  presence?" 

Trueman  seemed  to  tax  his  memory ;  then  he  raised  his  head, 
and  answered  deliberately  and  with  great  clearness, 

"  I  was  going  from  the  tavern  to  the  court-house,  when  I  met 
David  Johnson — 

"Never  mind  those  particulars,  Mr.  Trueman,"  interrupted 
Timms,  who  saw  that  the  juror  had  been  talking  with  one  of  his 
own  most  confidential  agents  —  "  what  the  court  wishes  to  know 
is,  if  any  one  has  been  reporting  circumstances  unfavourable  to 
Mary  Monson  in  your  presence  ?" 

"  Or  in  her  favour"  put  in  Williams,  with  a  sneer. 

"  Juror/ '  interposed  the  judge — "  tell  us  if  any  one  has  spoken 
to  you  on  the  merits  of  this  case  —  for  or  against  ?" 

"Merits" — repeated  Trueman,  seeming  to  reflect  again  — 
"No,  your  honour;  I  can't  say  that  there  has." 

Now,  this  was  as  bold  a  falsehood  as  was  ever  uttered ;  but 
Trueman  reconciled  the  answer  to  his  conscience  by  choosing  to 
consider  that  the  conversation  he  had  heard  had  been  on  the 
demerits  of  the  accused. 

"  I  do  not  see,  gentlemen,  that  you  can  challenge  for  cause," 
observed  his  Honour  —  "unless  you  have  further  facts." 

"  Perhaps  we  have,  sir,"  answered  Williams.  "  You  were 
saying,  Mr.  Trueman,  that  you  met  David  Johnson  as  you  were 
going  from  the  inn  to  the  court-house  —  Did  I  understand  you 
correctly  ?; 


386  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

ee  Just  so,  'Squire.  I  had  been  having  a  long  talk  with  Peter 
Titus" — one  of  Williams's  most  active  and  confidential  agents — 
"  when  Johnson  came  up.  Johnson  says,  says  he,  '  a  pleasant 
day,  gentlemen — I  'm  glad  to  see  you  both  out ;  for  the  faces  of 
old  friends  is  getting  scarce " 

"  I  see  no  objection  to  the  juror's  being  received,"  Williams 
carelessly  remarked ;  satisfied  that  Titus  had  not  neglected  his 
duty  in  that  long  talk. 

"Yes,  he  is  as  good  a  juror  as  Duke's  can  furnish/'  observed 
Timms,  perfectly  sure  Johnson  had  turned  to  account  the  advan 
tage  of  having  the  last  word.  Trueman  was  accordingly  admitted 
to  the  box,  as  the  second  man  of  the  twelve.  The  two  managers 
of  this  cause  were  both  right.  Titus  had  crammed  his  old  ac 
quaintance  Trueman  with  all  that  was  circulating  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  prisoner ;  expressing  surprise  when  he  had  said  all  he  had 
to  say,  at  hearing  that  his  friend  was  on  the  pannel.  "  Well," 
said  Titus,  as  Johnson  approached,  "if  questioned,  you'll  re 
member  I  said  I  didn't  dream  of  your  being  a  juryman  —  but, 
just  as  like  as  not,  you'll  not  be  drawn  for  the  case  at  all."  On 
the  other  hand,  Johnson  was  quite  eloquent  and  pathetic  in 
giving  his  old  acquaintance  the  history  of  Mary  Monson's  case, 
whom  he  pronounced  "  a  most  injured  and  parsecuted  woman." 
Trueman,  a  shrewd,  managing  fellow  in  general,  fancied  himself 
just  as  impartial  and  fit  to  try  the  cause,  after  he  had  heard  the 
stories  of  the  two  men,  as  he  had  ever  been ;  but  in  this  he  was 
mistaken.  It  requires  an  unusually  clear  head,  exceedingly  high 
principles,  and  a  great  knowledge  of  men,  to  maintain  perfect 
impartiality  in  these  cases ;  and  certainly  Trueman  was  not  the 
man  to  boast  of  all  these  rare  qualities.  In  general,  the  last  word 
tells;  but  it  sometimes  happens  that  first  impressions  become 
difficult  to  eradicate.  Such  was  the  fact  in  the  present  instance  • 
Trueman  taking  his  seat  in  the  jury-box  with  an  exceedingly 
strong  bias  against  the  accused. 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR.  337 

We  are  aware  that  these  are  not  the  colours  in  which  it  is  the 
fashion  to  delineate  the  venerable  and  much  vaunted  institution 
of  the  jury ;  certainly  a  most  efficient  agent  in  curtailing  the 
power  of  a  prince  5  but  just  as  certainly  a  most  irresponsible, 
vague,  and  quite  often  an  unprincipled  means  of  administering 
the  law,  when  men  are  not  urged  to  the  desire  of  doing  right  by 
political  pressure  from  without,  and  are  left  to  the  perverse  and 
free  workings  of  a  very  evil  nature.  We  represent  things  as  we 
believe  them  to  exist,  knowing  that  scarce  a  case  of  magnitude 
occurs  in  which  the  ministers  of  corruption  are  not  at  work 
among  the  jurors,  or  a  verdict  rendered  in  which  the  fingers  of 
the  Father  of  Lies  might  not  be  traced,  were  the  veil  removed, 
and  the  facts  exposed  to  the  light  of  day.  It  is  true,  that  in 
trials  for  life,  the  persecution  of  the  prisoner  rarely  takes  so  direct 
a  form  as  has  been  represented  in  the  case  of  Mary  Monson ;  but 
the  press  and  the  tongue  do  an  incalculable  amount  of  evil,  even 
in  such  cases ;  all  the  ancient  safeguards  of  the  law  having  been 
either  directly  removed  by  ill-considered  legislation,  or  rendered 
dead-letters  by  the  "  ways  of  the  hour." 

It  was  regarded  as  exceedingly  good  progress  to  get  two  jurors 
into  the  box,  in  a  capital  case,  in  the  first  half-hour.  His  Honour 
had  evidently  resigned  himself  to  a  twenty-four  hours'  job ;  and 
great  was  his  satisfaction  when  he  saw  Wattles  and  Trueman  safely 
jseated  on  their  hard  and  uncomfortable  seats ;  for  it  would  almost 
seem  that  discomfort  has  been  brought  into  the  court-houses  as  a 
sort  of  auxiliary  to  the  old  practice  of  starving  a  jury  into  a 
verdict. 

Whether  it  was  owing  to  a  suspicion,  on  the  part  of  Timms, 
of  the  truth  in  regard  to  his  being  over-reached  in  the  case  of 
Trueman,  or  to  some  other  cause,  he  raised  no  objections  to  either 
of  the  six  jurors  next  called.  His  moderation  was  imitated  by 
Williams.  Then  followed  two  peremptory  challenges;  one  in 
behalf  of  the  prisoner,  and  one  in  behalf  of  the  people,  as  it  is 

15 


338  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR 

termed.  This  was  getting  on  so  much  better  than  everybody 
expected,  that  all  were  in  good  humour ;  and  it  is  not  exceeding 
the  truth  if  we  add,  in  a  slight  degree  more  disposed  to  view  the 
prisoner  and  her  case  with  favour.  On  such  trifles  do  human 
decisions  very  often  depend. 

All  this  time,  fully  an  hour,  did  Mary  Monson  sit  in  resigned 
submission  to  her  fate,  composed,  attentive,  and  singularly  lady 
like.  The  spectators  were  greatly  divided  in  their  private  specu 
lations  on  her  guilt  or  innocence.  Some  saw  in  her  quiet  manner, 
curious  interest  in  the  proceedings,  and  unchanging  colour,  proofs 
not  only  of  a  hardened  conscience,  but  of  an  experience  in  scenes 
similar  to  that  in  which  she  was  now  engaged ;  overlooking  all 
the  probabilities,  to  indulge  in  conjectures  so  severe  against  one 
so  young. 

"  Well,  gentlemen,"  cried  the  judge,  "  time  is  precious.  Let 
us  proceed." 

The  ninth  juror  was  drawn,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  country 
trader  of  the  name  of  Hatfield.  This  person  was  known  to  be  a 
man  of  considerable  influence  among  persons  of  his  own  class, 
and  to  have  a  reputation  for  judgment,  if  not  for  principles. 
"  They  might  as  well  send  the  other  eleven  home,  and  let  Hat- 
field  pronounce  the  verdict,"  whispered  one  lawyer  to  another; 
"  there  is  no  material  in  that  box  to  withstand  his  logic." 

"Then  he  will  hold  this  young  woman's  life  in  his  hand," 
was  the  reply. 

"  It  will  be  pretty  much  so.  The  glorious  institution  of  the 
jury  is  admirably  devised  to  bring  about  such  results." 

"  You  forget  the  judge.  He  has  the  last  word,  you  will  re 
member." 

"  Thank  God  it  is  so ;  else  would  our  condition  be  terrible ! 
Lynch  law  is  preferable  to  laws  administered  by  jurors  who  fancy 
themselves  so  many  legislators." 

"  It  cannot  be  concealed  that  the  spirit  of  the  times  has  in- 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  339 

vaded  the  jury-box;  and  the  court  has  not  one-half  its  ancient 
influence.  I  should  not  like  to  have  this  Hatfield  against  me." 

It  would  seem  that  Williams  was  of  the  same  way  of  thinking ; 
for  he  muttered  to  himself,  desired  the  juror  not  to  enter  the 
box,  and  seemed  to  be  pondering  on  the  course  he  ought  to  pur 
sue.  The  truth  was  that  he  himself  had  recently  sued  Hatfield 
for  debt,  and  the  proceedings  had  been  a  little  vindictive.  One 
of  the  dangers  that  your  really  skilful  lawyer  has  to  guard  against 
is  the  personal  animosity  that  is  engendered  by  his  own  profes 
sional  practice.  Many  men  have  minds  so  constituted  that  their 
opinions  are  affected  by  prejudices  thus  created ;  and  they  do  not 
scruple  to  transfer  their  hostility  from  the  counsel  to  the  cause 
he  is  employed  to  defend.  It  is  consequently  incumbent  on  the 
prudent  lawyer  to  make  his  estimate  of  character  with  judgment, 
and  be  as  sure  as  the  nature  of  the  case  will  allow,  that  his  client 
is  not  to  suffer  for  his  own  acts.  As  hostility  to  the  counsel  is 
not  a  legal  objection  to  a  juror,  Williams  was  under  the  necessity 
of  presenting  such  as  would  command  the  attention  of  the  court. 

"I  wish  the  juror  may  be  sworn  true  answers  to  make"  — 
said  Williams. 

Timms  now  pricked  up  his  ears ;  for,  if  it  were  of  importance 
for  Williams  to  oppose  the  reception  of  this  particular  individual, 
it  was  probably  of  importance  to  Mary  Monson  to  have  him  re 
ceived.  On  this  principle,  therefore,  he  was  ready  to  resist  the 
attack  on  the  juror,  who  was  at  once  sworn. 

"You  reside  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Blackstone,  I  believe, 
Mr.  Hatfield?"  asked  Williams. 

A  simple  assent  was  the  reply. 

"In  practice  there,  in  one  of  the  learned  professions?" 

Hatfield  was  certain  his  interrogator  knew  better,  for  Williams 
had  been  in  his  store  fifty  times ;  but  he  answered  with  the  same 
innocent  manner  as  that  with  which  the  question  was  put. 

"I'm  in  trade." 


340  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  In  trade !  —  Keep  a  store,  I  dare  say,  Mr.  Hatfield  ?" 

"  I  do  —  and  one  in  which  I  have  sold  you  hundreds  myself/' 

A  general  smile  succeeded  this  sally ;  and  Timms  looked  round 
at  the  audience,  with  his  nose  pointing  upwards,  as  if  he  scented 
his  game. 

"  I  dare  say  —  I  pay  as  I  go,"  returned  Williams ;  "  and  my 
memory  is  not  loaded  with  such  transactions " 

"  Mr.  Williams,"  interrupted  the  judge,  a  little  impatiently 
"  the  time  of  the  court  is  very  precious." 

"So  is  the  dignity  of  the  outraged  laws  to  the  State,  you*; 
Honour.  We  shall  soon  be  through,  sir  —  Many  people  in  the 
habit  of  frequenting  your  store,  Mr.  Hatfield  ?" 

"  As  much  so  as  is  usual  in  the  country." 

"Ten  or  fifteen  at  a  time,  on  some  occasions?" 

"I  dare  say  there  may  be." 

"  Has  the  murder  of  Peter  Goodwin  ever  been  discussed  by 
your  customers  in  your  presence  ?" 

"I  don't  know  but  it  has  —  such  a  thing  is  very  likely;  but 
one  hears  so  much,  I  can't  say." 

"  Did  you  never  join  in  such  a  discussion  yourself?" 

"I  may,  or  I  may  not." 

"  I  ask  you,  now,  distinctly,  if  you  had  no  such  discussion  on 
the  26th  of  May  last,  between  the  hours  of  eleven  and  twelve 
in  the  forenoon?" 

The  sharpness  of  the  manner  in  which  this  question  was  put, 
the  minuteness  of  the  details,  and  the  particularity  of  the  inter 
rogatories,  quite  confounded  the  juror,  who  answered  accord 
ingly. 

"  Such  a  thing  might  have  taken  place,  and  it  might  not.  I 
do  not  remember." 

"  Is  Jonas  White  (a  regular  country  loafer)  in  the  habit  of 
being  in  your  store  ?" 

"  He  is  —  it  is  a  considerable  lounge  for  labouring  men." 
-«• 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR.  341 

"And  Stephen  Hook?" 

"  Yes ;  he  is  there  a  good  deal  of  his  time." 

"  Now,  I  beg  you  to  remember  —  did  not  such  a  conversation 
take  place,  in  which  you  bore  a  part,  between  the  hours  of 
eleven  and  twelve  in  the  forenoon;  White  and  Hook  being 


Hatfield  seemed  perplexed.  He  very  conscientiously  desired 
.to  tell  the  truth,  having  nothing  to  gain  by  an  opposite  course ; 
but  he  really  had  no  recollection  of  any  such  discussion,  as  well 
might  be  the  case ;  no  such  conversation  ever  having  taken  place. 
Williams  knew  the  habits  of  the  loafers  in  question,  had  selected 
the  time  a  little  at  random,  and  adopted  the  particularity  merely 
as  a  means  of  confounding  the  juror,  of  whom  he  was  seriously 
afraid. 

"  Such  a  thing  may  have  happened,"  answered  Hatfield,  after 
a  pause  —  "I  don't  remember." 

"  It  may  have  happened  —  Now,  sir,  allow  me  to  ask  you  if, 
in  that  conversation,  you  did  not  express  an  opinion  that  you  did 
not,  and  coula  not  believe  that  a  lady  educated  and  delicate,  like 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  did,  or  would,  under  any  circumstances, 
commit  the  offence  with  which  Mary  Monson  is  charged  ?" 

Hatfield  grew  more  and  more  confounded;  for  Williams's 
manner  was  more  and  more  confident  and  cool.  In  this  state  of 
feeling  he  suffered  the  reply  to  escape  him — 

"  I  may  have  said  as  much  —  it  seems  quite  natural." 

"  I  presume,  after  this,"  observed  Williams,  carelessly,  "  yom 
Honour  will  order  the  juror  not  to  enter  the  box  1" 

"  Not  so  fast  —  not  so  fast,  brother  Williams,"  put  in  Timms, 
who  felt  it  was  now  his  turn  to  say  a  word,  and  who  was  thumb 
ing  a  small  pocket-almanac  very  diligently  the  while. 

"  This  discussion,  I  understand  the  learned  gentleman,  took 
place  in  the  juror's  store?" 

" It  did,  sir,"  was  the  answer  —  "a  place  where  such  discus- 


342  THE   WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR. 

sions  are  very  apt  to  occur.  Hook  and  White  loaf  half  their 
time  away  in  that  store." 

"  All  quite  likely  —  very  likely  to  happen  —  Mr.  Hatfield,  do 
you  open  your  store  on  the  Sabbath  ?" 

"  Certainly  not — I  am  very  particular  to  do  nothing  of  the  sort." 

"A  church-member,  I  suppose,  sir?" 

"  An  undeserving  one,  sir." 

"  Never,  on  any  account,  in  the  practice  of  opening  your  store 
of  a  Sabbath,  I  understand  you  to  say?" 

"  Never,  except  in  cases  of  sickness.  We  must  all  respect  the 
wants  of  the  sick." 

"  Are  Hook  and  White  in  the  habit  of  loafing  about  on  your 
premises  of  a  Sunday?" 

"  Never —  I  wouldn't  tolerate  it.  The  store  is  a  public  place 
of  a  week-day,  and  they  can  come  in  if  they  please;  but  I 
wouldn't  tolerate  such  visits  on  the  Sabbath." 

"  Yet,  if  the  court  please,  the  26th  of  last  May  happened  to 
fall  on  the  Sabbath  day !  My  brother  Williams  forgot  to  look 
into  the  almanac  before  he  made  up  his  brief." 

Here  Timms  sat  down,  cocking  his  nose  still  higher,  quite 
certain  of  having  made  a  capital  hit  towards  his  views  on  the 
Senate,  though  he  actually  gained  nothing  for  the  cause.  There 
was  a  general  simper  in  the  audience ;  and  Williams  felt  that  he 
had  lost  quite  as  much  as  his  opponent  had  gained. 

"  Well,  gentlemen,  time  is  precious  —  let  us  get  on,"  inter 
posed  the  judge — "  Is  the  juror  to  enter  the  box  or  not  ?" 

"  I  trust  a  trifling  mistake  as  to  the  day  of  the  month  is  not 
about  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice,"  answered  Williams,  raising 
himself  higher  on  his  stilts,  as  he  found  himself  sinking  lower 
in  his  facts.  "  I  put  it  on  the  26th  by  a  miscalculation,  I  can 
now  see.  It  was  probably  on  the  25th — Saturday  is  the  loafer's 
holiday; — yes,  it  must  have  been  on  Saturday  the  25th  that  the 
conversation  took  place." 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  343 

a  Do  you  remember  this  fact,  juror?" 

"  I  remember,  now  so  much  has  been  said  on  the  subject/' 
answered  Hatfield,  firmly,  "  that  I  was  not  at  home  at  all  be 
tween  the  20th  and  the  27th  of  May  last.  I  could  have  held 
no  such  conversation  on  the  25th  or  26th  of  May;  nor  do  I 
know  that  I  think  Mary  Monson  either  innocent  or  guilty." 

As  all  this  was  true,  and  was  uttered  with  the  confidence  of 
truth,  it  made  an  impression  on  the  audience.  Williams  doubted ; 
for  so  fine  was  his  skill  in  managing  men,  that  he  often  succeeded 
in  gaining  jurors  by  letting  them  understand  he  suspected  them 
of  being  prejudiced  against  his  case.  With  the  weak  and  vain, 
this  mode  of  proceeding  has  frequently  more  success  than  a  con 
trary  course ;  the  party  suspected  being  doubly  anxious  to  illus 
trate  his  impartiality  in  his  verdict.  This  was  what  Williams, 
and  indeed  the  bar,  very  generally  calls  "  standing  so  erect  as  to 
lean  backward." 

"  Mr.  Williams,"  said  the  judge,  "  you  must  challenge  peremp 
torily,  or  the  juror  will  be  received." 

"  No,  your  Honour,  the  State  will  accept  the  juror ;  I  now 
eee  that  my  information  has  been  wrong." 

"  We  challenge  for  the  defence,"  said  Timins,  deciding  on  the 
instant,  on  the  ground  that  if  Williams  was  so  ready  to  change 
his  course  of  proceeding,  there  must  be  a  good  reason  for  it. 
"  Stand  aside,  juror." 

"  Peter  Bailey,"  called  the  clerk. 

No  objection  being  made,  Peter  Bailey  took  his  seat.  The 
two  next  jurors  were  also  received  unquestioned;  and  it  only 
remained  to  draw  the  twelfth  man.  This  was  so  much  better 
luck  than  commonly  happens  in  capital  cases,  that  everybody 
seemed  more  and  more  pleased,  as  if  all  were  anxious  to  come  to 
the  testimony.  The  judge  evidently  felicitated  himself,  rubbing 
his  hands  with  very  great  satisfaction.  The  bar,  generally,  en 
tered  into  his  feelings ;  for  it  helped  along  its  business. 


344  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"On  the  whole,"  observed  one  of  the  lawyers  who  was  m 
extensive  practice,  speaking  to  another  at  his  side,  "  I  would  as 
soon  try  one  of  these  murder-cases  as  to  go  through  with  a  good 
water-cause/' 

"  Oh !  they  are  excruciating  I  Get  into  a  good  water-cause, 
with  about  thirty  witnesses  on  a  side,  and  you  are  in  for  a  week- 
I  was  three  days  at  one,  only  last  circuit/' 

"Are  there  many  witnesses  in  this  case?7' 

"  About  forty,  I  hear,"  glancing  towards  the  benches  where 
most  of  the  females  sat.  "  They  tell  me  there  will  be  a  very 
formidable  array  as  to  character.  Ladies  from  York  by  the? 
dozen!" 

"  They  will  be  wanted,  if  all  they  say  is  true. 

i(  If  all  you  hear  is  true,  we  have  reached  a  new  epoch  in  the 
history  of  mankind.  I  have  never  seen  the  day  when  half  of 
that  I  hear  is  more  than  half  true.  I  set  the  rest  down  as  '•  lea 
ther  and  prunella/" 

"  Robert  Robinson,"  cried  the  clerk. 

A  respectable-looking  man  of  fifty  presented  himself,  and  was- 
about  to  enter  the  box  without  stopping  to  ascertain  whether  or 
not  he  would  be  welcome  there.  This  person  had  much  more 
the  air  of  the  world  than  either  of  the  other  jurors ;  and  with- 
those  who  are  not  very  particular,  or  very  discriminating  in  such 
matters,  might  readily  enough  pass  for  a  gentleman.  He  was 
neatly  dressed,  wore  gloves,  and  had  certain  chains,  an  eye-glass,. 
and  other  appliances  of  the  sort,  that  it  is  not  usual  to  see  at  a 
country  circuit.  Neither  Williams  nor  Timms  seemed  to  know 
the  juror;  but  each  looked  surprised,  and  undecided  how  he 
ought  to  act.  The  peremptory  challenges  were  not  exhausted ; 
and  there  was  a  common  impulse  in  the  two  lawyers,  first  to  ac 
cept  one  so  respectable  in  mien,  and  attire,  and  general  air ;  and 
then,  by  a  sudden  revolution  of  feeling,  to  reject  one  of  whom 
they  knew  nothing. 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  345 

ttl  suppose  the  summons  is  all  right,"  Williams  carelessly 
remarked.  "The  juror  resides  in  Duke's?" 

"I  do,"  was  the  answer.  .g^m 

"Is  a  freeholder,  and  entitled  to  serve?" 

A  somewhat  supercilious  smile  came  over  the  countenance  of 
the  juror ;  and  he  looked  round  at  the  person  who  could  presume 
to  make  such  a  remark,  with  something  very  like  an  air  of  con 
tempt. 

"  I  am  Doctor  Robinson,"  he  then  observed,  laying  emphasis 
on  his  learned  appellation. 

Williams  seemed  at  a  loss ;  for,  to  say  the  truth,  he  had  never 
heard  of  any  such  physician  in  the  county.  Timms  was  quite 
as  much  mystified ;  when  a  member  of  the  bar  leaned  across  a 
table,  and  whispered  to  Dunscomb  that  the  juror  was  a  celebrated 
quack,  who  made  pills  that  would  cure  all  diseases;  and  who, 
having  made  a  fortune,  had  bought  a  place  in  the  county,  and 
Was  to  all  legal  purposes  entitled  to  serve. 

"  The  juror  can  stand  aside,"  said  Dunscomb,  rising  in  his 
slow  dignified  manner.  "  If  it  please  the  court,  we  challenge 
peremptorily." 

Timms  looked  still  more  surprised ;  and  when  told  the  reason 
for  the  course  taken  by  his  associate,  he  was  even  sorry. 

"  The  man  is  a  quack"  said  Dunscomb,  "  and  there  is  quackery 
enough  in  this  system  of  a  jury,  without  calling  in  assistance  from 
the  more  open  practitioners." 

"  I  'm  afraid,  ' Squire,  he  is  just  the  sort  of  man  we  want.  I 
can  work  on  such  spirits,  when  I  fail  altogether  with  more  every 
day-kind  of  men.  A  little  quackery  does  no  harm  to  some 
causes." 

"Ira  Kingsland,"  called  out  the  clerk. 

Ira  Kingsland  appeared,  a  staid,  solid,  respectable  husband 
man — one  of  those  it  is  a  mistaken  usage  of  the  country  to  term 

15* 


846  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

yeomen ;  and  of  a  class  that  contains  more  useful  information, 
practical  good  sense  and  judgment,  than  might  be  imagined, 
under  all  the  circumstances. 

As  no  objection  was  raised,  this  juror  was  received,  and  the 
pannel  was  complete.  After  cautioning  the  jurors  about  listen 
ing  and  talking,  in  the  usual  way,  the  judge  adjourned  the  court 
for  dinner, 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

•  I  know  it  is  dreadful !     I  feel  the 
Anguish  of  thy  generous  soul  —  but  I  was  born 
To  murder  all  who  love  me." 

George  Barnwett. 

DUNSCOMB  was  followed  to  his  room  by  Millington,  between 
whom  and  himself,  John  Wilmeter  had  occasion  to  remark,  a 
sudden  intimacy  had  sprung  up.  The  counsellor  had  always 
liked  his  student,  or  he  would  never  have  consented  to  give  him 
his  niece  j  but  it  was  not  usual  for  him  to  hold  as  long,  or  seem 
ingly  as  confidential  conversations  with  the  young  man,  as  now 
proved  to  be  the  case.  When  the  interview  was  over,  Millington 
mounted  a  horse  and  galloped  off,  in  the  direction  of  town,  in 
that  almost  exploded  manner  of  moving.  Time  was,  and  that 
within  the  memory  of  man,  when  the  gentlemen  of  New  York 
were  in  their  saddles  hours  each  day ;  but  all  this  is  changing 
with  the  times.  We  live  in  an  age  of  buggies,  the  gig,  phaeton, 
and  curricle  having  disappeared,  and  the  utilitarian  vehicle  just 
named  having  taken  their  places.  Were  it  not  for  the  women,  who 
still  have  occasion  for  closer  carriages,  the  whole  nation  would 
soon  be  riding  about  in  buggies !  Beresford  is  made,  by  one  of 
his  annotators,  to  complain  that  everything  like  individuality  is 
becoming  lost  in  England,  and  that  the  progress  of  great  improve 
ments  must  be  checked,  or  independent  thinkers  will  shortly  be 
out  of  the  question.  If  this  be  true  of  England,  what  might  not 
be  said  on  the  same  subject  of  America?  Here,  where  there  is 
BO  much  community  as  to  have  completely  engulphed  everything 

(347) 


348  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HO.OR. 

like  individual  thought  and  action,  we  take  it  the  most  imitative 
people  on  earth  are  to  be  found.  This  truth  is  manifested  in  a 
thousand  things.  Every  town  is  getting  its  Broadway,  thus  de 
feating  the  very  object  of  names ;.  to-day  the  country  is  dotted 
with  Grecian  temples,  to-morrow  with  Gothic  villages,  all  the 
purposes  of  domestic  architecture  being  sadly  forgotten  in  each  *y 
and,  as  one  of  the  Spensers  is  said  to  have  introduced  the  article 
of  dress  which  bears  his  name,  by  betting  he  could  set  the  fashion 
of  cutting  off  the  skirts  of  the  eoat,  so  might  one  who  is  looked: 
up  to,  in  this  country,  almost  set  the  fashion  of  cutting  off  the  nose; 

Dunscomb,  however,  was  a  perfectly  original  thinker.  Thi& 
lie  manifested  in  his  private  life,  as  well  as  in  his  public  profes 
sion.  His  opinions  were  formed  in  his  own  way,  and  his  acts 
were  as  much  those  of  the  individual  as  circumstances  would  at 
all  allow.  His  motives  in  despatching  Millington  so  suddenly 
to  town  were  known  to  himself,  and  will  probably  be  shown  to 
the  reader,  as  the  narrative  proceeds. 

"  "Well,  sir,  how  are  we  getting  on  ?"  asked  John  Wilmeter,. 
throwing  himself  into  a  chair,  in  his  uncle's  room,  with  a  heated 
and  excited  air.  "  I  hope  things  are  going  to  your  mind  ?" 

"  We  have  got  a  jury,  Jack,  and  that  is  all  that  can  be  said 
in  the  matter/ '  returned  the  uncle,  looking  over  some  papers  as 
the  conversation  proceeded.  u  It  is  good  progress,  in  a  capital 
case,  to  get  a  jury  empannelled  in  the  first  forenoon/' 

"  You  '11  have  the  verdict  in,  by  this  time  to-morrow,  sir,  I  'm 
afraid!" 

"  Why  afraid,  boy  ?  The  sooner  the  poor  woman  is  acquitted, 
the  better  will  it  be  for  her." 

"Ay,  if  she  be  acquitted;  but  I  fear  everything  is  looking 
dark,  in  the  case." 

"And  this  from  you,  who  fancied  the  accused  an  angel  of 
light,  only  a  week  since  ! " 

"  She  is  certainly  a  most  fascinating  creature,  when  she  chooset 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        349 

to  It"  said  John,  with  emphasis ;   " but  she  does  not  always 
choose  to  appear  in  that  character/' 

"  She  is  most  certainly  a  fascinating  creature,  when  she  chooses 
to  be !"  returned  the  uncle,  with  very  much  the  same  sort  of 
emphasis. 

But  Dunscomb's  manner  was  very  different  from  that  of  his 
nephew.  John  was  excited,  petulant,  irritable,  and  in  a  state  to 
feel  and  say  disagreeable  things;  dissatisfied  with  himself,  and 
consequently  not  very  well  pleased  with  others.  A  great  change 
had  come  over  his  feelings,  truly,  within  the  last  week,  and  the 
image  of  the  gentle  Anna  Updyke  was  fast  taking  the  place  of 
that  of  Mary  Monson.  As  the  latter  seldom  saw  the  young 
man,  and  then  only  at  the  grate,  the  former  had  got  to  be  the 
means  of  communication  between  the  youthful  advocate  and  his 
client,  throwing  them  constantly  in  each  other's  way.  On  such 
occasions  Anna  was  always  so  truthful,  so  gentle,  so  earnest,  so 
natural,  and  so  sweetly  feminine,  that  John  must  have  been 
made  of  stone,  to  remain  insensible  of  her  excellent  qualities. 
If  women  did  but  know  how  much  their  power,  not  to  say  charms, 
are  increased  by  gentleness,  by  tenderness  in  lieu  of  coldness  of 
manner,  by  keeping  within  the  natural  circle  of  their  sex's  feel 
ings,  instead  of  aping  an  independence  and  spirit  more  suited  to 
men  than  to  their  own  condition,  we  should  see  less  of  discord  in 
domestic  life,  happier  wives,  better  mothers,  and  more  reasonable 
mistresses.  No  one  knew  this  better  than  Dunscomb,  who  had 
not  been  an  indifferent  spectator  of  his  nephew's  course,  and  who 
fancied  this  a  favourable  moment  to  say  a  word  to  him,  on  a  sub 
ject  that  he  felt  to  be  important. 

"  This  choosing  to  be  is  a  very  material  item  in  the  female 
character,"  continued  the  counsellor,  after  a  moment  of  silent 
and  profound  thought.  "  Whatever  else  you  may  do,  my  boy, 
in  the  way  of  matrimony,  marry  a  gentle  and  feminine  woman. 
Take  my  word  for  it,  there  is  no  true  happiness  with  any  other." 


850  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  Women  have  their  tastes  and  caprices,  and  like  to  indulge 
them,  sir,  as  well  as  ourselves/' 

"  All  that  may  be  true,  but  avoid  what  is  teriLjd  a  we :nan  of 
independent  spirit.  They  are  usually  so  many  devils  incarnate. 
If  they  happen  to  unite  moneyed  independence  with  moral  inde 
pendence,  I  am  not  quite  certain  that  their  tyranny  is  not  worse 
than  that  of  Nero.  A  tyrannical  woman  is  worse  than  a  tyran 
nical  man,  because  she  is  apt  to  be  capricious.  At  one  moment 
she  will  blow  hot,  at  the  next  cold ;  at  one  time  she  will  give, 
at  the  next  clutch  back  her  gifts ;  to-day  she  is  the  devoted  and 
obedient  wife,  to-morrow  the  domineering  partner.  No,  no,  Jack, 
marry  a  woman;  which  means  a  kind,  gentle,  affectionate, 
thoughtful  creature,  whose  heart  is  so  full  of  you,  there  is  no 
room  in  it  for  herself.  Marry  just  such  a  girl  as  Anna  Updyke, 
if  you  can  get  her/' 

"  I  thank  you,  sir/'  answered  John,  colouring.  "  I  dare  say 
the  advice  is  good,  and  I  shall  bear  it  in  mind.  What  would 
you  think  of  a  woman  like  Mary  Monson,  for  a  wife  ?" 

Dunscomb  turned  a  vacant  look  at  his  nephew,  as  if  his 
thoughts  were  far  away,  and  his  chin  dropped  on  his  bosom. 
This  abstraction  lasted  but  a  minute,  however  when  the  young 
man  got  his  answer. 

"  Mary  Monson  is  a  wife,  and  I  fear  a  bad  one,"  returned  the 
counsellor.  "  If  she  be  the  woman  I  suppose  her  to  be,  her  his 
tory,  brief  as  it  is,  is  a  very  lamentable  one.  John,  you  are  my 
sister's  son,  and  my  heir.  You  are  nearer  to  me  than  any  other 
human  being,  in  one  sense,  though  I  certainly  love  Sarah  quite 
as  well  as  I  do  you,  if  not  a  little  better.  These  ties  of  feeling 
are  strange  links  in  our  nature  !  At  one  time  I  loved  your  mo 
ther  with  a  tenderness  such  as  a  father  might  feel  for  a  child ;  in 
short,  with  a  brother's  love  —  a  brother's  love  for  a  young,  and 
pretty,  and  good  girl,  and  I  thought  I  could  never  love  another 
as  I  loved  Elizabeth.  She  returned  my  affection,  and  there  waa 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  351 

a  period  of  many  years  when  it  was  supposed  that  we  were  to 
pass  down  the  vale  of  life  in  company,  as  brother  and  sister  — 
old  bachelor  and  old  maid.  Your  father  deranged  all  this,  and 
at  thirty-four  my  sister  left  me.  It  was  like  pulling  my  heart 
strings  out  of  me,  and  so  much  the  worse,  boy,  because  they 
were  already  sore.v 

John  started.  His  uncle  spoke  hoarsely,  and  a  shudder,  that 
was  so  violent  as  to  be  perceptible  to  his  companion,  passed 
through  his  frame.  The  cheeks  of  the  counsellor  were  usually 
colourless ;  now  they  appeared  absolutely  pallid. 

"This,  then,"  thought  John  Wilmeter,  "is  the  insensible  old 
bachelor,  who  was  thought  to  live  altogether  for  himself.  How 
little  does  the  world  really  know  of  what  is  passing  within  it ! 
Well  may  it  be  said,  '  there  is  a  skeleton  in  every  house/  " 

Dunscomb  soon  recovered  his  self-command.  Reaching  forth 
an  arm,  he  took  his  nephew's  hand,  and  said  affection 
ately — 

"  I  am  not  often  thus,  Jack,  as  you  must  know,  A  vivid 
recollection  of  days  that  have  long  been  past  came  freshly  over 
me,  and  I  believe  I  have  been  a  little  unmanned.  To  you,  my 
early  history  is  a  blank ;  but  a  very  few  words  will  serve  to  tell 
all  you  need  ever  know.  I  was  about  your  time  of  life,  Jack, 
when  I  loved,  courted,  and  became  engaged  to  Mary  Millington 
— Michael's  great-aunt.  Is  this  new  to  you?" 

"  Not  entirely,  sir ;  Sarah  has  told  me  something  of  the  same 
sort  —  you  know  the  girls  get  hold  of  family  anecdotes  sooner 
than  we  men." 

"  She  then  probably  told  you  that  I  was  cruelly,  heartlessly 
jilted,  for  a  richer  man.  Mary  married,  and  left  one  daughter; 
who  also  married  early,  her  own  cousin,  Frank  Millington,  the 
cousin  of  Michael's  father.  You  may  now  see  why  I  have  ever 
felt  so  much  interest  in  your  future  brother-in-law." 

u  He  is  a  good  fellow,  and  quite  free  from  all  jilting  blood. 


352  THE  WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

I'll  answer  for  it.  But,  what  has  become  of  this  Mrs.  If  rank 
Millington  ?  I  remember  no  such  person." 

"  Like  her  mother,  she  died  young,  leaving  an  only  daughter 
to  inherit  her  name  and  very  ample  fortune.  The  reason  you 
never  knew  Mr.  Frank  Millington  is  probably  because  he  went 
to  Paris  early,  where  he  educated  his  daughter,  in  a  great  degree 
—  there,  and  in  England  —  and  when  he  died,  Mildred  Milling- 
ton,  the  heiress  of  both  parents,  is  said  to  have  had  quite  twenty 
thousand  a  year.  Certain  officious  friends  made  a  match  for  her, 
I  have  heard,  with  a  Frenchman  of  some  family,  but  small  means ; 
and  the  recent  revolution  has  driven  them  to  this  country,  where, 
as  I  have  been  told,  she  took  the  reins  of  domestic  government 
into  her  own  hands,  until  some  sort  of  a  separation  has  been  the 
consequence." 

"  Why,  this  account  is  surprisingly  like  the  report  we  have 
had  concerning  Mary  Monson,  this  morning !"  cried  Jack,  spring- 
ing  to  his  feet  with  excitement. 

"  I  believe  her  to  be  the  same  person.  Many  things  unite  to 
create  this  opinion.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  certainly  a  marked 
family  resemblance  to  her  grandmother  and  mother;  then  the 
education,  manners,  languages,  money,  Marie  Moulin,  and  the 
initials  of  the  assumed  name,  each  and  all  have  their  solution  in 
this  belief.  The  <  Mademoiselle'  and  the  '  Madame'  of  the  Swiss 
maid  are  explained;  in  short,  if  we  can  believe  this  Mary  Mon 
son  to  be  Madame  de  Larocheforte,  we  can  find  an  explanation 
of  everything  that  is  puzzling  in  her  antecedents." 

"  But,  why  should  a  woman  of  twenty  thousand  a  year  be  liv 
ing  in  the  cottage  of  Peter  Goodwin  ?" 

"  Because  she  is  a  woman  of  twenty  thousand  a  year.  Mons. 
de  Larocheforte  found  her  money  was  altogether  at  her  own  com 
mand,  by  this  new  law,  and,  naturally  enough,  he  desired  to  play 
something  more  than  a  puppet's  part  in  his  own  abode  and  family. 
The  lady  clings  to  her  dollars,  which  she  loves  more  than  her 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  353 

husband ;  a  quarrel  ensues,  and  she  chooses  to  retire  from  hia 
protection,  and  conceal  herself,  for  a  time,  under  Peter  Goodwin's 
roof,  to  evade  pursuit.  Capricious  and  wrong-headed  women  do 
a  thousand  strange  things,  and  thoughtless  gabblers  often  sustain 
them  in  what  they  do." 

"  This  is  rendering  the  marriage  tie  very  slight  I" 

"  It  is  treating  it  with  contempt ;  setting  at  naught  the  laws 
of  God  and  man  —  one's  duties,  and  the  highest  obligations  of 
woman.  Still,  many  of  the  sex  fancy  if  they  abstain  from  one 
great  and  distinct  offence,  the  whole  catalogue  of  the  remaining 
misdeeds  is  at  their  mercy/' 

"  Not  to  the  extent  of  murder  and  arson,  surely !  Why  should 
such  a  woman  commit  these  crimes?" 

"  One  never  knows.  We  are  fearfully  constituted,  John ; 
morally  and  physically.  The  fairest  form  often  conceals  the 
blackest  heart,  and  vice  versa.  But  I  am  now  satisfied  that  there 
is  a  vein  of  insanity  in  this  branch  of  the  Millingtons ;  and  it  is 
possible  Madame  de  Larocheforte  is  more  to  be  pitied  than  to  be 
censured." 

"  You  surely  do  not  think  her  guilty,  uncle  Tom  ?" 

The  counsellor  looked  intently  at  his  nephew,  shaded  his  brow 
a  moment,  gazed  upward,  and  answered — 

"  I  do.  There  is  such  a  chain  of  proof  against  her  as  will 
scarce  admit  of  explanation.  I  am  afraid,  Jack  —  I  am  afraid 
that  she  has  done  these  deeds,  terrible  as  they  are  !  Such  has 
been  my  opinion,  now,  for  some  time;  though  my  mind  has 
vacillated,  as  I  make  no  doubt  will  prove  to  be  the  case  with 
those  of  most  of  the  jurors.  It  is  a  sad  alternative ;  but  I  see 
no  safety  for  her  except  in  the  plea  of  insanity.  I  am  in  hopes 
that  something  may  be  made  out  m  that  respect/' 

"  We  are  quite  without  witnesses  to  the  point ;  are  we  not, 
sir?" 

"  Certainly ;  but  Michael  Millington  has  gone  to  town  to  send 


354  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

by  telegraph  for  the  nearest  connections  of  Maaame  de  Laroche- 
forte,  who  are  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Philadelphia.  The 
husband  himself  is  somewhere  on  the  Hudson.  He  must  be 
hunted  up  too.  Michael  will  see  to  all  this.  I  shall  get  the 
judge  to  adjourn  early  this  evening;  and  we  must  spin  out  the 
trial  for  the  next  day  or  two,  in  order  to  collect  our  forces.  The 
judge  is  young  and  indulgent.  He  has  certain  ridiculous  notions 
about  saving  the  time  of  the  public;  but  does  not  feel  secure 
enough  in  his  seat  to  be  very  positive." 

At  this  instant  Timms  burst  into  the  room,  in  a  high  state  of 
excitement,  exclaiming,  the  moment  he  was  sure  that  his  words 
would  not  reach  any  hostile  ears — 

"  Our  case  is  desperate  !  All  the  Burtons  are  coming  out  dead 
against  us;  and  neither  'the  new  philanthropy/  nor  ' Friends/ 
nor  '  anti-gallows/  can  save  us.  I  never  knew  excitement  get  up 
so  fast.  It  'a  the  infernal  aristocracy  that  kills  us  !  —  Williams 
makes  great  use  of  it ;  and  our  people  will  not  stand  aristocracy. 
See  what  a  magnanimous  report  to  the  legislature  the  learned 
Attorney-General  has  just  made  on  the  subject  of  aristocracy. 
How  admirably  he  touches  up  the  kings  and  countesses !" 

•" Pshaw!"  exclaimed  Dunscomb,  with  a  contemptuous  curl 
of  the  lip  —  "  not  one  in  a  thousand  knows  the  meaning  of  the 
•word ;  and  he  among  the  rest.  The  report  you  mention  is  that 
of  a  refined  gentleman,  to  be  sure,  and  is  addressed  to  his  equals. 
What  exclusive  political  privilege  does  Mary  Monson  possess  ? 
or  what  does  the  patroon,  unless  it  be  the  privilege  of  having 
more  stolen  from  him,  by  political  frauds,  than  any  other  man  in 
the  State  ?  This  cant  about  social  aristocracy,  even  in  a  state  of 
society  in  which  the  servant  deserts  his  master  with  impunity,  in 
the  midst  of  a  dinner,  is  very  miserable  stuff!  Aristocracy,  for 
sooth  !  If  there  be  aristocracy  in  America,  the  blackguard  is  the 
aristocrat.  Away,  then,  with  all  this  trash,  and  speak  common 
sense  in  future." 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  355 

"  You  amaze  me,  sir !  Why,  I  regard  you  as  a  sort  of  aristo 
crat,  Mr.  Dunscomb." 

"  Me  !  —  And  what  do  you  see  aristocratic  about  me,  pray?0 

"  Why,  sir,  you  don't  look  like  the  rest  of  us.  Your  very 
walk  is  different  —  your  language,  manners,  dress,  habits  and 
opinions,  all  differ  from  those  of  the  Duke's  county  bar.  Now, 
to  my  notion,  that  is  being  exclusive  and  peculiar ;  and  whatever 
is  peculiar  is  aristocratic,  is  it  not?" 

Here  Dunscomb  and  his  nephew  burst  out  in  a  laugh ;  and, 
for  a  few  minutes,  Mary  Monson  was  forgotten.  Timms  was 
quite  in  earnest;  for  he  had  fallen  into  the  every-day  notions,  in 
this  respect,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  get  him  out  of  them. 

"  Perhaps  the  Duke's  county  bar  contains  the  aristocrats,  and 
I  am  the  cerf  I"  said  the  counsellor. 

"  That  cannot  be — you  must  be  the  aristocrat,  if  any  there  be 
among  us.  I  don't  know  why  it  is  so,  but  so  it  is;  yes,  you  are 
the  aristocrat,  if  there  be  one  at  our  bar." 

Jack  smiled,  and  looked  funny ;  but  he  had  the  discretion  to 
hold  his  tongue.  He  had  heard  that  a  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  top 
of  the  English  aristocracy,  was  so  remarkable  for  his  personal 
habits  as  actually  to  be  offensive ;  a  man  who,  according  to 
Timms' s  notions,  would  have  been  a  long  way  down  the  social 
ladder;  but  who,  nevertheless,  was  a  top-peer,  if  not  a  top-saw 
yer.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  Timms  confounded  a  gentleman  with 
an  aristocrat;  a  confusion  in  ideas  that  is  very  common,  and 
which  is  far  from  being  unnatural,  when  it  is  remembered  how 
few  formerly  acquired  any  of  the  graces  of  deportment  who  had 
not  previously  attained  positive,  exclusive,  political  rights.  As 
for  the  Attorney-General  and  his  report,  Jack  had  sufficient 
sagacity  to  see  it  was  a  document  that  said  one  thing  and  meant 
another ;  professing  deference  for  a  people  that  it  did  not  stop  to 
compliment  with  the  possession  of  either  common  honesty  or 
good  manners. 


856  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  I  hope  my  aristocracy  is  not  likely  to  affect  the  interests  of 
my  client." 

"  No ;  there  is  little  danger  of  that.  It  is  the  democracy  of 
the  Burtons  which  will  do  that.  I  learn  from  Johnson  that  they 
are  coming  out  stronger  and  stronger ;  and  I  feel  certain  "Williams 
is  sure  of  their  testimony.  By  the  way,  sir,  I  had  a  hint  from 
him,  as  we  left  the  court-house,  that  the  five  thousand  dollars 
might  yet  take  him  from  the  field." 

"  This  Mr.  Williams,  as  well  as  yourself,  Timms,  must  be 
more  cautious,  or  the  law  will  yet  assert  its  power.  It  is  very 
much  humbled,  I  am  aware,  under  the  majesty  of  the  people 
and  a  feeble  administration  of  its  authority ;  but  its  arm  is  long, 
and  its  gripe  potent,  when  it  chooses  to  exert  its  force.  Take 
my  advice,  and  have  no  more  to  do  with  such  arrangements." 

The  dinner-bell  put  an  end  to  the  discussion.  Timms  vanished 
like  a  ghost ;  but  Dunscomb,  whose  habits  were  gentlemanlike, 
and  who  knew  that  Mrs.  Horton  had  assigned  a  particular  seat 
to  him,  moved  more  deliberately;  following  his  nephew  about 
the  time  Timms  was  half  through  the  meal. 

An  American  tavern-dinner,  during  the  sitting  of  the  circuit, 
is  every  way  worthy  of  a  minute  and  graphic  description  j  but 
our  limits  will  hardly  admit  of  our  assuming  the  task.  If 
"  misery  makes  a  man  acquainted  with  strange  bed-fellows.,"  so 
does  the  law.  Judges,  advocates,  witnesses,  sheriffs,  clerks,  con 
stables,  and  not  unfrequently  the  accused,  dine  in  common,  with 
rail-road  speed.  The  rattling  of  knives,  forks,  and  spoons,  the 
clatter  of  plates,  the  rushing  of  waiters,  landlord,  landlady,  cham 
ber-maids,  ostler  and  bar-keeper  included,  produce  a  confusion 
that  would  do  honour  to  the  most  profound  "  republican  simpli 
city."  Everything  approaches  a  state  of  nature  but  the  eatables; 
and  they  are  invariably  overdone.  On  an  evil  day,  some  Yankee 
invented  an  article  termed  a  "  cooking-stove •"  and  since  its  ap 
pearance  everything  like  good  cookery  has  vanished  from  the 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  357 

common  American  table.  There  is  plenty  spoiled ;  abundance 
abused.  Of  made  dishes,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  of 
very  simple  characters,  there  never  were  any ;  and  these  have 
been  burned  to  cinders  by  the  baking  processes  of  the  "  cook- 
stoves/' 

It  matters  little,  however,  to  the  convives  of  a  circuit-court 
dinner,  what  the  dishes  are  called,  or  of  what  they  are  composed. 
"  Haste"  forbids  "  taste ;"  and  it  actually  occurred  that  day,  as 
it  occurs  almost  invariably  on  such  occasions,  that  a  very  clever 
country  practitioner  was  asked  the  materiel  of  the  dish  he  had 
been  eating,  and  he  could  not  tell  it !  Talk  of  the  mysteries  of 
French  cookery  !  The  "  cook-stove"  produces  more  mystery  than 
all  the  art  of  all  the  culinary  artists  of  Paris ;  and  this,  too,  on  a 
principle  that  tallies  admirably  with  that  of  the  purest  "  republi 
can  simplicity ;"  since  it  causes  all  things  to  taste  alike. 

To  a  dinner  of  this  stamp  Dunscomb  now  sat  down,  just  ten 
minutes  after  the  first  clatter  of  a  plate  was  heard,  and  just  as 
the  only  remove  was  seen,  in  the  form  of  slices  of  pie,  pudding 
and  cake.  With  his  habits,  railroad  speed  or  lightning-line  eating 
could  find  no  favour  j  and  he  and  Jack  got  their  dinner,  as  best 
they  might,  amid  the  confusion  and  remnants  of  the  close  of  such 
a  repast.  Nine-tenths  of  those  who  had  so  lately  been  at  work 
as  trencher-men  were  now  picking  their  teeth,  smoking  segars, 
or  preparing  fresh  quids  for  the  afternoon.  A  few  clients  were 
already  holding  their  lawyers  by  the  button ;  and  here  and  there 
one  of  the  latter  led  the  way  to  his  room  to  "  settle"  some  slander 
cause  in  which  the  plaintiff  had  got  frightened. 

It  is  a  bad  sign  when  eating  is  carried  on  without  conversation. 
To  converse,  however,  at  such  a  table,  is  morally  if  not  physically 
impossible.  Morally,  because  each  man's  mind  is  so  intent  on 
getting  as  much  as  he  wants,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  bring 
his  thoughts  to  bear  on  any  other  subject;  physically,  on  account 
of  the  clatter,  a  movement  in  which  an  eclipse  of  a  plate  by  the 


358  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

body  of  a  waiter  is  no  unusual  thing,  and  universal  activity  of 
the  teeth.  Conversation  under  such  circumstances  would  be 
truly  a  sort  of  ventriloquism ;  the  portion  of  the  hurnan  frame 
included  in  the  term  being  all  in  all  just  at  that  moment. 

Notwithstanding  these  embarrassments  and  unpleasant  accom 
paniments,  Dunscomb  and  his  nephew  got  their  dinners,  and  were 
about  to  quit  the  table  as  McBrain  entered.  The  doctor  would 
not  expose  his  bride  to  the  confusion  of  the  common  table,  where 
there  was  so  much  that  is  revolting  to  all  trained  in  the  usages 
of  good  company,  singularly  blended  with  a  decency  of  deport 
ment,  and  a  consideration  for  the  rights  of  each,  that  serve  to 
form  bright  spots  in  American  character ;  but  he  had  obtained  a 
more  private  room  for  the  females  of  his  party. 

"  We  should  do  pretty  well,"  observed  McBrain,  in  explain 
ing  his  accommodations,  "  were  it  not  for  a  troublesome  neighbour 
in  an  adjoining  room,  who  is  either  insane  or  intoxicated.  Mrs, 
Horton  has  put  us  in  your  wing,  and  I  should  think  you  must 
occasionally  hear  from  him  too?" 

"  The  man  is  constantly  drunk,  they  tell  me,  and  is  a  little 
troublesome  at  times.  On  the  whole,  however,  he  does  not  annoy 
me  much.  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  dining  with  you  to-morrow, 
Ned;  this  eating  against  time  does  not  agree  with  my  consti* 
tution." 

"  To-morrow !  —  I  was  thinking  that  my  examination  would 
be  ended  this  afternoon,  and  that  we  might  return  to  town  in  the 
morning.  You  will  remember  I  have  patients  to  attend  to." 

"  You  will  have  more  reason  for  patience.  If  you  get  through 
in  a  week,  you  will  be  lucky." 

"  It  is  a  curious  case  !  I  find  all  the  local  faculty  ready  to 
swear  through  thick  and  thin  against  her.  My  own  opinion  is 
fixed — but  what  is  the  opinion  of  one  man  against  those  of  several 
in  the  same  profession?" 

"  We  will  put  that  question  to  Mrs.  Horton,  who  is  coming  to 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  359 

ask  how  we  have  dined  —  Thank'ee,  my  good  Mrs.  Horton,  wo 
have  done  remarkably  well,  considering  all  the  circumstances." 

The  landlady  was  pleased,  and  smirked,  and  expressed  her 
gratification.  The  sous  entendu  of  Dunscomb  was  lost  upon  her ; 
and  human  vanity  is  very  apt  to  accept  the  flattering,  and  to  over 
look  the  disagreeable.  She  was  pleased  that  the  great  York  lawyer 
was  satisfied. 

Mrs.  Horton  was  an  American  landlady,  in  the  strictest  sense 
of  the  word.  This  implies  many  features  distinct  from  her  Euro 
pean  counterpart ;  some  of  which  tell  greatly  in  her  favour,  and 
others  not  so  much  so.  Decency  of  exterior,  and  a  feminine 
deportment,  are  so  characteristic  of  the  sex  in  this  country,  that 
they  need  scarcely  be  adverted  to.  There  were  no  sly  jokes,  no 
doubles  entendres  with  Mrs.  Horton ;  who  maintained  too  grave 
a  countenance  to  admit  of  such  liberties.  Then,  she  was  entirely 
free  from  the  little  expedients  of  a  desire  to  gain  that  are  naturally 
enough  adopted  in  older  communities,  where  the  pressure  of 
numbers  drives  the  poor  to  their  wits'-end,  in  order  to  live.  Ame 
rican  abundance  had  generated  American  liberality  in  Mrs.  Hor 
ton  ;  and  if  one  of  her  guests  asked  for  bread,  she  would  give 
him  the  loaf.  She  was,  moreover,  what  the  country  round  termed 
"  accommodating  '"  meaning  that  she  was  obliging  and  good-na 
tured.  Her  faults  were  a  fierce  love  of  gossip,  concealed  under 
a  veil  of  great  indifference  and  modesty,  a  prying  curiosity,  and  a 
determination  to  know  everything,  touching  everybody,  who  ever 
came  under  her  roof.  This  last  propensity  had  got  her  into 
difficulties,  several  injurious  reports  having  been  traced  to  her 
tongue,  which  was  indebted  to  her  imagination  for  fully  one-half 
of  what  she  had  circulated.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  that, 
among  the  right  set,  Mrs.  Horton  was  a  great  talker.  As  Duns- 
comb  was  a  favourite,  he  was  nof.  likely  to  escape  on  the  present 
occasion ;  the  room  being  clear  of  all  the  guests  but  those  of  his 
own  party. 


360  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  I  am  glad  to  get  a  little  quiet  talk  with  you,  'Squire  Duns- 
comb/'  the  landlady  commenced ;  "  for  a  body  can  depend  on 
what  is  heard  from  such  authority.  Do  they  mean  to  hang  Mary 
Monson?" 

"  It  is  rather  premature  to  ask  that  question,  Mrs.  Horton. 
The  jury  is  empannelled,  and  there  we  stand  at  present." 

"  Is  it  a  good  jury  ?  —  Some  of  our  Duke's  county  juries  are 
none  too  good,  they  tell  me." 

"  The  whole  institution  is  a  miserable  contrivance  for  the 
administration  of  justice.  Could  a  higher  class  of  citizens  com 
pose  the  juries,  the  system  might  still  do,  with  a  few  improve 
ments." 

"Why  not  elect  them?"  demanded  the  landlady,  who  was, 
ex  officiOj  a  politician,  much  as  women  are  usually  politicians  in 
this  country.  In  other  words,  she  felt  her  opinions,  without 
knowing  their  reasons. 

"  God  forbid,  my  good  Mrs.  Horton — we  have  elective  judges; 
that  will  do  for  the  present.  Too  much  of  a  good  thing  is  as 
injurious  as  the  positively  bad.  I  prefer  the  present  mode  of 
drawing  lots." 

"  Have  you  got  a  Quaker  in  the  box  ?  —  If  you  have,  you  are 
safe  enough." 

"  I  doubt  if  the  District  Attorney  would  suffer  that ;  although 
he  appears  to  be  kind  and  considerate.  The  man  who  goes  into 
that  box  must  be  prepared  to  hang  if  necessary." 

"  For  my  part,  I  wish  all  hanging  was  done  away  with.  I 
can  see  no  good  that  hanging  can  do  a  man." 

"  You  mistake  the  object,  my  dear  Mrs.  Horton,  though  your 
argument  is  quite  as  good  as  many  that  are  openly  advanced  on 
the  same  side  of  the  question." 

"Just  hear  me,  'Squire,"  rejoined  the  woman;  for  she  loved 
dearly  to  get  into  a  discussion  on  any  quastion  that  she  was  ac 
customed  to  hear  debated  among  her  guests.  "  The  country 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  361 

bangs  a  body  to  reform  a  body ;  and  what  good  can  that  do  when 
a  body  is  dead?0 

"Very  ingeniously  put,"  returned  the  counsellor,  politely 
offering  his  box  to  the  landlady,  who  took  a  few  grains;  and 
then  deliberately  helping  himself  to  a  pinch  of  snuff —  "  quite 
as  ingeniously  as  much  of  the  argument  that  appears  in  public. 
The  objection  lies  to  the  premises,  and  not  to  the  deduction, 
which  is  absolutely  logical  and  just.  A  hanged  body  is  certainly 
an  unrcformed  body ;  and,  as  you  say,  it  is  quite  useless  to  hang 
in  order  to  reform." 

"  There  I"  exclaimed  the  woman  in  triumph — "  I  told  'Squire 
Timms  that  a  gentleman  who  knows  as  much  as  you  do  must  be 
on  our  side.  Depend  on  one  thing,  lawyer  Dunscomb,  and  you 
too,  gentlemen  —  depend  on  it,  that  Mary'  Monson  will  never  be 
hanged." 

This  was  said  with  a  meaning  so  peculiar,  that  it  struck  Duns- 
comb,  who  watched  the  woman's  earnest  countenance  while  she 
was  speaking,  with  undeviating  interest  and  intensity. 

"  It  is  my  duty  and  my  wish,  Mrs.  Horton,  to  believe  as  much, 
and  to  make  others  believe  it  also,  if  I  can,"  he  answered,  now 
anxious  to  prolong  a  discourse  that  a  moment  before  he  had  found 
tiresome. 

"  You  can,  if  you  will  only  try.  I  believe  in  dreams  —  and  1 
dreamt  a  week  ago  that  Mary  Monson  would  be  acquitted.  It 
would  be  ag'in  all  our  new  notions  to  hang  so  nice  a  lady." 

"  Our  tastes  might  take  offence  at  it ;  and  taste  is  of  some  in 
fluence  yet,  I  am  bound  to  agree  with  you." 

"  But  you  do  agree  with  me  in  the  uselessness  of  hanging, 
when  the  object  is  to  reform  ?" 

"  Unfortunately  for  the  force  of  that  argument,  my  dear 
landlady,  society  does  not  punish  for  the  purposes  of  reforma 
tion  —  that  is  a  very  common  blunder  of  superficial  philanthro 
pists" 

16 


362  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  Not  for  the  purposes  of  reformation,  'Squire  ! — You  astonisfe 
me  !  Why,  for  what  else  should  it  punish  ?" 

"  For  its  own  protection.  To  prevent  others  from  committing 
murder.  Have  you  no  other  reason  than  your  dream,  my  good 
Mrs.  Horton,  for  thinking  Mary  Monson  will  be  acquitted  ?" 

The  woman  put  on  a  knowing  look,  and  nodded  her  head 
significantly.  At  the  same  time,  she  glanced  towards  the  coun 
sellor's  companions,  as  much  as  to  say  that  their  presence  pre 
vented  her  being  more  explicit, 

"  Ned,  do  me  the  favour  to-  go  to  your  wife,  and  tell  her  I  shall 
stop  in,  and  say  a  kind  word  as  I  pass  her  door ; — and,  Jack,  go 
and  bid  Sarah  be  in  Mrs,  McBrainrs  parlour,  ready  to  give  me 
my  morning's  kiss." 

The  Doctor  and  John  complied,  leaving  Dunseomb  alone  with 
the  woman. 

"  May  I  repeat  the  question,  my  good  landlady  ?  —  Why  do 
you  think  Mary  Monson  is  to  be  acquitted  ?"  asked  Dunscomb, 
in  one  of  his  softest  tones. 

Mrs.  Horton  mused,  seemed  anxious  to  speak,  but  struggling 
with  some  power  that  withheld  her.  One  of  her  hands  was  in  a 
pocket  where  the  jingling  of  keys  and  pence  made  its  presence 
known.  Drawing  forth  this  hand  mechanically,  Dunseomb  saw 
that  it  contained  several  eagles.  The  woman  cast  her  eyes  on 
the  gold,  returned  it  hastily  to  her  pocket,  rubbed  her  forehead, 
and  seemed  the  wary,  prudent  landlady  once  more. 

"  I  hope  you  like  your  room,  ;  Squire,"  she  cried,  in  a  tho 
roughly,  inn-keeping  spirit.  "  It 's  the  very  best  in  this  house ; 
though  1 7m  obliged  to  tell  Mrs.  McBrain  the  same  story  as  to 
her  apartment.  But  you  have  the  best.  You  have  a  trouble 
some  neighbour  between  you,  I  'm  afraid ;  but  he  '11  not  be  there 
many  days,  and  I  do  all  I  can  to  keep  him  quiet." 

"  Is  that  man  crazy?"  asked  the  counsellor,  rising,  perceiving 
that  he  had  no  more  to  expect  from  the  woman  just  then;  "or 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  363 

is  he  only  drunk  ?  I  hear  him  groan,  and  then  I  hear  him  swear ; 
though  I  cannot  understand  what  he  says." 

"  He 's  sent  here  by  his  friends ;  and  your  wing  is  the  only 
place  we  have  to  keep  him  in.  When  a  body  is  well  paid,  'Squire, 
I  suppose  you  know  that  the  fee  must  not  be  forgotten  ?  Now, 
inn-keepers  have  fees,  as  well  as  you  gentlemen  of  the  bar.  How 
wonderfully  Timms  is  getting  along,  Mr.  Dunscomb  !" 

a  I  believe  his  practice  increases ;  and  they  tell  me  he  stands 
next  to  Mr.  Williams  in  Duke's." 

"  He  does,  indeed ;  and  a  <  bright  particular  star/  as  the  poet 
gays,  has  he  got  to  be !" 

"  If  he  be  a  star  at  all,"  answered  the  counsellor,  curling  his 
lip,  "  it  must  be  a  very  particular  one,  indeed.  I  am  sorry  to 
leave  you,  Mrs.  Horton ;  but  the  intermission  is  nearly  up." 

Dunscomb  gave  a  little  friendly  nod,  which  the  landlady 
returned;  the  former  went  his  way  with  singular  coolness  of 
manner,  when  it  is  remembered  that  on  him  rested  the  responsi 
bility  of  defending  a  fellow-creature  from  the  gallows.  What 
rendered  this  deliberation  more  remarkable,  was  the  fact  that  he 
had  no  faith  in  the  virtue  of  Mrs.  Horton's  dream. 


CHAPTER  XXIL 

*  Wilt  thou  behold  me  sinking  in  my  woes, 
And  wilt  thou  not  reach  out  a  friendly  arm, 
To  raise  one  from  amidst  this  plunge  of  sorrow?" 

Addison. 

"CA'LL  the  names  of  the  jurors,  Mr.  Clerk/ '  said  the  judge 
"Mr.  Sheriff,  I  do  not  see  the  prisoner  in  her  place. " 

This  produced  a  stir.  The  jurors  were  called,  and  answered 
to  their  names ;  and  shortly  after,  Mary  Monson  appeared.  The 
last  was  accompanied  by  the  ladies,  who  might  now  be  said  to 
belong  to  her  party,  though  no  one  but  herself  and  Marie  Moulin 
came  within  the  bar. 

There  was  profound  stillness  in  the  hall,  for  it  was  felt  that 
now  the  issue  of  life  or  death  was  actually  approaching.  Mary 
Monson  gazed,  not  with  disquietude  but  interest,  at  the  twelve 
men  who  were  to  decide  on  her  innocence  or  guilt  —  men  of 
habits  and  opinions  so  different  from  her  own  —  men  so  obnoxious 
to  prejudices  against  those  whom  the  accidents  of  life  had  made 
objects  of  envy  or  hatred  —  men  too  much  occupied  with  the 
cares  of  existence  to  penetrate  the  arcana  of  thought,  and  who 
consequently  held  their  opinions  at  the  mercy  of  others  —  men 
unskilled,  because  without  practice,  in  the  very  solemn  and  im 
portant  office  now  imposed  on  them  by  the  law  —  men  who  might 
indeed  be  trusted,  so  long  as  they  would  defer  to  the  court  and 
reason,  but  who  were  terrible  and  dangerous,  when  they  listened, 
as  is  too  apt  to  be  the  case,  to  the  suggestions  of  their  own  im- 

(364) 


THE  WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  365 

pulses,  ignorance  and  prejudice.  Yet  these  men  were  Mary 
Monson's  peers,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law — would  have  been  so 
viewed  and  accepted  in  a  case  involving  the  feelings  and  practices 
of  social  castes,  about  which  they  knew  absolutely  nothing,  or, 
what  is  worse  than  nothing,  a  very  little  through  the  medium  of 
misrepresentation  and  mistaken  conclusions. 

It  is  tjie  fashion  to  extol  the  institution  of  the  jury.  Our  own 
experience,  by  no  means  trifling,  as  foreman,  as  suitor,  and  as  a 
disinterested  spectator,  does  not  lead  us  to  coincide  in  this  opi 
nion.  A  narrative  of  the  corrupt,  misguided,  partial,  prejudiced, 
or  ignorant  conduct  that  we  have  ourselves  witnessed  in  these 
bodies,  would  make  a  legend  of  its  own.  The  power  that  most 
misleads  such  men,  is  one  unseen  by  themselves,  half  the  time, 
and  is  consequently  so  much  the  more  dangerous.  The  feelings 
of  neighbourhood,  political  hostility,  or  party  animosities,  are 
among  the  commonest  evils  that  justice  has  to  encounter,  when 
brought  in  contact  with  tribunals  thus  composed.  Then  come 
the  feelings  engendered  by  social  castes,  an  inexhaustible  source 
of  evil  passions.  Mary  Monson  had  been  told  of  the  risks  she 
ran  from  that  source ;  though  she  had  also  been  told,  and  with 
great  truth,  that  so  much  of  the  spirit  of  God  still  remains  in  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  men,  as  to  render  a  majority  of  those  who 
were  to  be  the  arbiters  of  her  fate  conscientious  and  careful  in  a 
capital  case.  Perhaps,  as  a  rule,  the  singularity  of  his  situation, 
with  a  man  who  finds  himself,  for  the  first  time,  sitting  as  a  juror 
in  a  trial  for  a  human  life,  is  one  of  the  most  available  correctives 
of  his  native  tendencies  to  do  evil. 

"Mr.  District  Attorney,  are  you  ready  to  proceed?"  inquired 
the  judge. 

This  functionary  rose,  bowed  to  the  court  and  jury,  and  com 
menced  his  opening.  His  manner  was  unpretending,  natural, 
and  solemn.  Although  high  talent  and  original  thought  are  very 
rare  in  this  country,  as  they  are  everywhere  else,  there  is  a  vast 


366  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

fund  of  intellect  of  a  secondary  order,  ever  at  the  command  of 
the  public.  The  District  Attorney  of  Duke's  was  a  living  witness 
of  this  truth.  He  saw  all  within  his  reach  clearly,  and,  possess 
ing  great  experience,  he  did  his  duty,  on  this  occasion,  in  a  very 
creditable  manner.  No  attempt  was  made  to  awaken  prejudice 
of  any  sort  against  the  accused.  She  was  presented  by  the  grand 
inquest,  and  it  was  his  and  their  painful  duty,  including  his 
honour  on  the  bench,  to  investigate  this  matter,  and  make  a 
solemn  decision,  on  their  oaths.  Mary  Monson  was  entitled  to 
a  fair  hearing,  to  all  the  advantages  that  the  lenity  of  the  crimi 
nal  law  of  a  very  humane  state  of  society  could  afford,  and  "  for 
God's  sake  let  her  be  acquitted  should  the  State  fail  to  establish 
her  guilt!" 

Mr.  District  Attorney  then  proceeded  to  give  a  narrative  of 
the  events  as  he  supposed  them  to  have  occurred.  He  spoke  of 
the  Goodwins  as  "poor,  but  honest"  people,  a  sort  of  illustration 
that  is  in  much  favour,  and  deservedly  so,  when  true.  "It 
seems,  gentlemen,"  the  District  Attorney  continued,  "  that  the 
wife  had  a  propensity,  or  a  fancy,  to  collect  gold  pieces,  no  doubt 
as  a  store  against  the  wants  of  age.  This  money  was  kept  in  a 
stocking,  according  to  the  practice  of  country  ladies,  and  was 
often  exhibited  to  the  neighbours.  We  may  have  occasion,  gen 
tlemen,  to  show  you  that  some  fifteen  or  twenty  persons,  at  dif 
ferent  times,  have  seen  and  handled  this  gold.  You  need  not 
be  told  what  natural  curiosity  is,  but  must  all  know  how  closely 
persons  little  accustomed  to  see  money  of  this  sort,  would  be  apt 
to  examine  the  more  rare  pieces,  in  particular.  There  happened 
to  be  several  of  these  pieces  among  the  gold  of  Mrs.  Goodwin ; 
and  one  of  them  was  an  Italian  or  a  Dutch  coin,  of  the  value  of 
four  dollars,  which  commonly  goes  by  the  name  of  the  king  whose 
likeness  is  on  the  piece.  This  Dutch  or  Italian  coin,  no  matter 
which,  or  William,  was  seen,  and  handled,  and  examined  by 
leveral  persons,  as  we  shall  show  you. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  367 

4<  Now,  gentlemen,  the  stocking  that  contained  the  gold  coins, 
Was  kept  in  a  bureau,  which  bureau  was  saved  from  the  fire,  with 
all  its  contents :  but  the  stocking  and  the  gold  were  missing ! 
These  facts  will  be  shown  to  you  by  proof  that  puts  them  beyond 
a  peradveuture.  We  shall  next  show  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  on 
a  public  examination  of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  the  contents  of 
iier  purse  were  laid  open,  and  the  Dutch  or  Italian  coin  I  have 
mentioned  was  found,  along  with  more  than  a  hundred  dollars 
of  other  pieces,  which  being  in  American  coin,  cannot  so  readily 
be  identified. 

"  The  prosecution  relies,  in  a  great  degree,  on  the  proof  that 
will  be  offered  in  connection  with  this  piece  of  money,  to  esta 
blish  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner.  We  are  aware  that,  when  this 
piece  of  money  was  found  on  her  person,  she  affirmed  it  was 
hers ;  that  she  had  been  possessed  of  two  such  pieces,  and  that 
the  one  seen  in  Mrs.  Goodwin's  stocking  had  been  a  present  from 
Iierself  to  that  unfortunate  woman. 

"  Gentlemen,  if  persons  accused  of  crimes  could  vindicate 
themselves  by  their  own  naked  statements,  there  would  be  very 
few  convictions.  Reason  tells  us  that  proof  must  be  met  by 
proof.  Assertions  will  not  be  received,  as  against  the  accused, 
nor  will  they  be  taken  in  her  favour.  Your  own  good  sense  will 
tell  you,  gentlemen,  that  if  it  be  shown  that  Dorothy  Goodwin 
possessed  this  particular  piece  of  gold,  valued  it  highly,  and  was 
in  the  practice  of  hoarding  all  the  gold  she  could  lay  her  hands 
on  lawfully;  that  the  said  Dorothy  Goodwin's  residence  was 
burned,  she  herself  murdered  by  a  savage  and  cruel  blow  or  blows 
on  the  occiput,  or  head ;  that  Mary  Monson,  the  prisoner  at  the 
bar,  knew  of  the  existence  of  this  little  stock  of  gold  coins,  had 
seen  it,  handled  it,  and  doubtless  coveted  it ;  residing  in  the  same 
iiouse,  with  easy  access  to  the  bedside  of  the  unhappy  couple, 
with  easy  access  to  the  bureau,  to  the  keys  which  opened  that 
bureau,  for  its  drawers  were  found  locked,  just  as  Mrs.  Goodwin 


368  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

was  in  the  habit  of  leaving  them ;  —  but,  gentlemen,  if  all  this 
be  shown  to  you,  and  we  then  trace  the  aforesaid  piece  or  coin  to 
the  pocket  of  Mary  Monson,  we  make  out  a  prima  facie  case  of 
guilt,  as  I  conceive ;  a  case  that  will  throw  on  her  the  onus  of 
showing  that  she  came  in  possession  of  the  said  piece  of  com 
lawfully,  and  by  no  improper  means.  Failing  of  this,  your  duty 
will  be  plain. 

"It  is  incumbent  on  the  prosecution  to  make  out  its  case,, 
either  by  direct  proof,  on  the  oaths  of  credible  witnesses,  or  by 
such  circumstances  as  shall  leave  no  doubt  in  your  minds  of  the 
guilt  of  the  accused.  It  is  also  incumbent  that  we  show  that  the 
crimes,  of  which  the  prisoner  is  accused,  have  been  committed, 
and  committed  by  her. 

"  Gentlemen,  we  shall  offer  you  this  proof  We  shall  show 
you  that  the  skeletons  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  which  lie 
under  that  pall,  sad  remains  of  a  most  ruthless  scene,  are  beyond 
all  question  the  skeletons  of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin.  This 
will  be  shown  to  you  by  proof;  though  all  who  knew  the  parties,, 
can  almost  see  the  likeness  in  these  sad  relics  of  mortality.  Pe 
ter  Goodwin,  as  will  be  shown  to  you,  was  a  very  short,  but 
sturdy  man,  while  Dorothy,  his  wife,  was  a  woman  of  large  size. 
The  skeletons  meet  this  description  exactly.  They  were  found 
on  the  charred  wood  of  the  bedstead  the  unhappy  couple  habitu 
ally  used,  and  on  the  very  spot  where  they  had  passed  so  many- 
previous  nights  in  security  and  peace.  Everything  goes  to  cor 
roborate  the  identity  of  the  persons  whose  remains  have  been 
found,  and  I  regret  it  should  be  my  duty  to  add,  that  everything 
goes  to  fasten  the  guilt  of  these  murders  on  the  prisoner  at  the 
bar. 

"  Gentlemen,  although  we  rely  mainly  on  the  possession  of 
the  Dutch  or  Italian  coin,  no  matter  which,  to  establish  the  case 
for  the  state,  we  shall  offer  you  a  great  deal  of  sustaining  and 
secondary  proof.  In  the  first  place,  the  fact  that  a  female,  young,, 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  369 

handsome,  well,  nay,  expensively  educated,  coming  from  nobody 
knows  whence,  to  go  nobody  knows  whither,  should  suddenly 
appear  in  a  place  as  retired  as  the  house  of  Peter  Goodwin,  why 
no  one  can  say,  are  in  themselves  very  suspicious.  Gentlemen, 
1  all  is  not  gold  that  glitters/  Many  a  man,  and  many  a  woman, 
in  places  large  as  New  York,  are  not  what  they  seem  to  be. 
They  dress,  and  laugh,  and  sing,  and  appear  to  be  among  the 
gayest  of  the  gay,  «vhen  they  do  not  know  where  to  lay  their 
heads  at  night.  Large  towns  are  moral  blotches,  they  say,  on 
the  face  of  the  community,  and  they  conceal  many  things  that 
will  not  bear  the  light.  From  one  of  these  large  towns,  it  is  to 
be  presumed  from  her  dress,  manners,  education,  amusements, 
and  all  belonging  to  her,  came  Mary  Monson,  to  ask  an  asylum 
in  the  dwelling  of  the  Goodwins.  Gentlemen,  why  did  she 
come  ?  Had  she  heard  of  the  hoard  of  Mrs.  Goodwin,  and  did 
she  crave  the  possession  of  the  gold  ?  These  questions  it  will  be 
your  duty  to  answer  in  your  verdict.  Should  the  reply  be  in  the 
affirmative,  you  obtain,  at  once,  a  direct  clue  to  the  motives  for 
the  murder. 

"  Among  the  collateral  proof  that  will  be  offered  are  the  fol 
lowing  circumstances,  to  which  I  now  ask  your  particular  atten 
tion,  in  order  that  you  may  give  to  the  testimony  its  proper  value. 
It  will  be  shown  that  Mary  Monson  had  a  large  sum  in  gold  in 
her  possession,  after  the  arson  and  murders,  and  consequently 
after  the  robbery,  but  no  one  knew  of  her  having  any  before. 
It  will  be  shown  that  she  has  money  in  abundance,  scattering  it 
right  and  left,  as  we  suppose  to  procure  her  acquittal,  and  this 
money  we  believe  she  took  from  the  bureau  of  Mrs.  Goodwin  — 
how  much,  is  not  known.  It  is  thought  that  the  sum  was  very 
large ;  the  gold  alone  amounted  to  near  a  thousand  dollars,  and 
two  witnesses  will  testify  to  a  still  larger  amount  in  bank  notes. 
The  Goodwins  talked  of  purchasing  a  farm,  valued  at  five  thou 
sand  dollars ;  and  as  they  were  known  never  to  run  in  debt,  th« 
16* 


370  THE   WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR. 

fair  inference  is,  that  they  must  have  had  at  least  that  sum  by 
them.  A  legacy  was  left  Dorothy  Goodwin  within  the  last  six 
months,  which  we  hear  was  very  considerable,  and  we  hope  to 
be  able  to  put  a  witness  on  the  stand  who  will  tell  you  all 
about  it. 

"  But,  gentlemen,  a  circumstance  worthy  of  all  attention  in  an 
investigation  like  this,  is  connected  with  an  answer  to  this  ques 
tion —  Who  is  Mary  Monson?  What  areier  parentage,  birth 
place,  occupation,  and  place  of  residence  ?  Why  did  she  come 
to  Biberry  at  all  ?  In  a  word,  what  is  her  past  history  ?  Let 
this  be  satisfactorily  explained,  and  a  great  step  is  taken  towards 
her  vindication  from  these  most  grave  charges.  Shall  we  have 
witnesses  to  character  ?  No  one  will  be  happier  to  listen  to  them 
than  myself.  My  duty  is  far  from  pleasant.  I  sincerely  hope 
the  prisoner  will  find  lawful  means  to  convince  you  of  her  inno 
cence.  There  is  not  one  within  the  walls  of  this  building  who 
will  hear  such  a  verdict,  if  sustained  by  law  and  evidence,  with 
greater  pleasure  than  it  will  be  heard  by  me." 

After  pursuing  this  vein  some  time  longer,  the  worthy,  funo- 
tionary  of  the  state  showed  a  little  of  that  cloven  foot  whict 
seems  to  grow  on  all,  even  to  the  cleanest  heels,  who  look  to  the 
popular  voice  for  preferment.  No  matter  who  the  man  is,  rich 
or  poor,  young  or  old,  foolish  or  wise,  he  bows  down  before  the 
idol  of  Numbers,  and  there  worships.  Votes  being  the  one  thing 
wanted,  must  be  bought  by  sacrifices  on  the  altar  of  conscience. 
Now  it  is  by  wild,  and,  half  the  time,  impracticable  schemes  of 
philanthropy,  that  while  they  seem  to  work  good  to  the  majority, 
are  quite  likely  to  disregard  the  rights  of  the  minority ;  now  they 
are  flourishes  against  negro  slavery,  or  a  revolution  in  favour  of 
the  oppressed  inhabitants  of  Crim-Tartary,  of  the  real  state  of 
which  country  we  are  all  as  ignorant  as  its  inhabitants  are  igno 
rant  of  us ;  now,  it 's  an  exemption  law,  to  enable  a  man  to  es 
cape  from  the  payment  of  his  just  debts,  directly  in  the  teeth  of 


THE   W/VYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  371 

the  sound  policy,  not  to  say  morality,  that  if  a  man  owe  he 
should  be  made  to  pay  as  long  as  he  has  anything  to  do  it  with ; 
now,  it  is  a  hymn  in  praise  of  a  liberty  that  the  poet  neither 
comprehends  nor  cares  to  look  into  farther  than  may  suit  his  own 
selfish  patriotism;  and  now,  it  is  some  other  of  the  thousand 
modes  adopted  by  the  designing  to  delude  the  masses  and  advance 
themselves 

On  this  occasion  the  District  Attorney  was  very  cautious,  but 
lie  showed  the  cloven  foot.  He  paid  a  passing  tribute  to  the 
god  of  Numbers,  worshipped  before  the  hierarchy  of  votes. 
"  Gentlemen,"  he  continued,  "  like  myself,  you  are  plain,  unpre 
tending  citizens.  Neither  you,  nor  your  wives  and  daughters, 
speak  in  foreign  tongues,  or  play  on  foreign  instruments  of  music. 
We  have  been  brought  up  in  republican  simplicity,  [God  bless 
it !  say  we,  could  we  ever  meet  with  it,]  and  lay  no  claims  to  su 
periority  of  any  sort.  Our  place  is  in  the  body  of  the  nation, 
and  there  we  are  content  to  remain.  We  shall  pay  no  respect 
to  dress,  accomplishments,  foreign  languages,  or  foreign  music; 
but,  the  evidence  sustaining  us,  will  show  the  world  that  the  law 
frowns  as  well  on  the  great  as  on  the  little ;  on  the  pretending, 
as  well  as  on  the  unpretending." 

As  these  grandiose  sentiments  were  uttered,  several  of  the  ju 
rors  half  rose  from  their  seats,  in  the  eagerness  to  hear,  and  looks 
of  approbation  passed  from  eye  to  eye.  This  was  accepted  as 
good  republican  doctrine ;  no  one  there  seeing,  or  feeling,  as  taste 
and  truth  would  have  shown,  that  the  real  pretension  was  on  the 
side  of  an  exaggerated  self-esteem,  that  prompted  to  resistance 
ere  resistance  was  necessary,  under  the  influence  of,  perhaps,  the 
lowest  passion  of  human  nature  —  we  allude  to  envy.  With  a 
little  more  in  the  same  vein,  the  District  Attorney  concluded  his 
opening. 

The  great  coolness,  not  to  say  indifference,  with  which  Mary 
Monson  listened  to  this  speech,  was  the  subject  of  general  com- 


372  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

ment  among  the  members  of  the  bar.  At  times  she  had  beers 
attentive,  occasionally  betraying  surprise;  then  indignation  would 
just  gleam  in  her  remarkable  eye ;  but,  on  the  whole,  an  uncom 
mon  calmness  reigned  in  her  demeanour.  She  had  prepared 
tablets  for  notes ;  and  twice  she  wrote  in  them  as  the  District 
Attorney  proceeded.  This  was  when  he  adverted  to  her  past 
life,  and  when  he  commented  on  the  Dutch  coin.  While  he  was 
speaking  of  castes,  flattering  oiae  set  under  the  veil  of  pretending 
humility,  and  undermining  their  opposites,  a  look  of  quiet  con 
tempt  was  apparent  in  every  feature  of  her  very  expressive  face, 

"  If  it  please  the  court/'  said  Dunscomb,  rising  in  his  deli 
berate  way,  "  before  the  prosecution  proceeds  with  its  witnesses, 
I  could  wish  to  appeal  to  the  courtesy  of  the  gentlemen  on  the 
other  side  for  a  list  of  their  names." 

"  I  believe  we  are  not  bound  to  furnish  any  such  list,"  an 
swered  Williams,  quickly. 

"  Perhaps  not  bound  exactly  in  law ;  but,  it  strikes  me,  bound 
in  justice.  This  is  a  trial  for  a  life ;  the  proceedings  are  insti 
tuted  by  the  State.  The  object  is-  justice,  not  vengeance  —  the 
protection  of  society,  through  the  agency  of  an  impartial,  though 
stern  justice.  The  State  cannot  wish  to  effect  anything  by  sur 
prise.  We  are  accused  of  murder  and  arson,  with  no  other  notice 
of  what  is  to  be  shown,  or  how  anything  is  to  be  shown,  than 
what  is  contained  in  the  bill  or  complaint.  Any  one  can  see 
how  important  it  may  be  to  us,  to  be  apprised  of  the  names  of 
the  witnesses  a  little  in  advance,  that  we  may  inquire  into  charac 
ter  and  note  probabilities.  I  do  not  insist  on  any  right ;  but  I 
ask  a  favour  that  humanity  sanctions." 

"  If  it  please  the  court,"  said  Williams,  "we  have  an  important 
trust.  I  will  here  say  that  I  impute  nothing  improper  to  either 
of  the  prisoner's  counsel ;  but  it  is  my  duty  to  suggest  the  neces- 
Bity  of  our  being  cautious.  A  great  deal  of  money  has  been 
expended  already  in  this  ease ;  and  there  is  always  danger  of 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  373 

witnesses  being  bought  off.  On  behalf  of  my  client,  I  protest 
against  the  demand's  being  complied  with." 

"  The  court  has  no  objection  to  the  course  asked  by  the  pri 
soner's  counsel,"  observed  the  judge,  "  but  cannot  direct  it.  The 
State  can  never  wish  its  officers  to  be  harsh  or  exacting ;  but  it 
is  their  duty  to  be  prudent.  Mr.  District  Attorney,  are  you  ready 
with  your  evidence  ?  Time  is  precious,  sir." 

The  testimony  for  the  prosecution  was  now  offered.  We  shall 
merely  advert  to  most  of  it,  reserving  our  details  for  those  wit 
nesses  on  whom  the  cause  might  be  said  to  turn.  Two  very 
decent-looking  and  well-behaved  men,  farmers  who  resided  in  the 
vicinity  of  Biberry,  were  put  on  the  stand  to  establish  the  leading 
heads  of  the  case.  They  had  known  Peter  and  Dorothy  Good 
win  ;  had  often  stopped  at  the  house ;  and  were  familiarly  ac 
quainted  with  the  old  couple,  as  neighbours.  Remembered  the 
fire — was  present  at  it,  towards  its  close.  "Saw  the  prisoner  there ; 
saw  her  descend,  by  a  ladder;  and  assisted  in  saving  her  effects. 
Several  trunks,  carpet-bags,  bandboxes,  writing-desks,  musical 
instruments,  &c.  &c.  All  were  saved,  "  It  seemed  to  them  that 
they  had  been  placed  near  the  windows,  in  a  way  to  be  handy." 
After  the  fire,  had  never  seen  or  heard  anything  of  the  old  man 
and  his  wife,  unless  two  skeletons  that  had  been  found  were  their 
skeletons.  Supposed  them  to  be  the  skeletons  of  Peter  Goodwin 
and  his  wife"  —  Here  the  remains  were  for  the  first  time  on  that 
trial  exposed  to  view.  "  Those  are  the  same  skeletons,  should 
say  —  had  no  doubt  of  it;  they  are  about  the  size  of  the  old 
couple.  The  husband  was  short;  the  wife  tall.  Little  or  no 
difference  in  their  height.  Had  never  seen  the  stocking  or  the 
gold ;  but  had  heard  a  good  deal  of  talk  of  them,  having  lived 
near  neighbours  to  the  Goodwins  five-and-twenty  years." 

Dunscomb  conducted  the  cross-examination.  He  was  close, 
discriminating,  and  judicious.  Separating  the  hearsay  and  gossip 
from  the  facts  known,  he  at  once  threw  the  former  to  the  winds, 


374  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

as  matter  not  to  be  received  by  the  jury.  We  shall  give  a  few 
of  his  questions  and  their  answers  that  have  a  bearing  on  the 
more  material  points  of  the  trial. 

"  I  understand  you  to  say,  witness,  that  you  knew  both  Peter 
Goodwin  and  his  wife?" 

"I  did  —  I  knew  them  well  —  saw  them  almost  every  day  of 
my  life." 

"For  how  long  a  tame?" 

"This  many  a  day.  For  five-and-twenty  years,  or  a  little 
more." 

"  Will  you  say  that  you  have  been  in  the  habit  of  seeing  Peter 
Goodwin  and  his  wife  daily,  or  almost  daily,  for  five-andrtwenty 
years?" 

"  If  not  right  down  daily,  quite  often ;  as  often  as  once  or 
twice  a  week,  certainly." 

"  Is  this  material,  Mr.  Dunscomb  ?"  inquired  the  judge.  "  The 
time  of  the  court  is  very  precious." 

"  It  is  material,  your  honour,  as  showing  the  looseness  with 
which  witnesses  testify;  and  as  serving  to  caution  the  jury  how 
they  receive  their  evidence.  The  opening  of  the  prosecution 
shows  us  that  if  the  charge  is  to  be  made  out  at  all  against  the 
prisoner,  it  is  to  be  made  out  on  purely  circumstantial  evidence. 
It  is  not  pretended  that  any  one  saw  Mary  Monson  kill  the 
Goodwins ;  but  the  crime  is  to  be  inferred  from  a  series  of  colla 
teral  facts,  that  will  be  laid  before  the  court  and  jury.  I  think 
your  honour  will  see  how  important  it  is,  under  the  circumstances, 
to  analyze  the  testimony,  even  on  points  that  may  not  seem  to 
bear  directly  on  the  imputed  crimes.  If  a  witness  testify  loosely, 
the  jury  ought  to  be  made  to  see  it.  I  have  a  life  to  defend,  your 
honour  will  remember." 

"  Proceed,  sir  j  the  court  will  grant  you  the  widest  latitude." 

"  You  now  say,  as  often  as  once  or  twice  a  week,  witness j  on 
reflection,  will  you  swear  to  even  that?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  375 

"  Well,  if  not  twice,  I  am  sure  I  can  say  once." 

Dunscomb  was  satisfied  with  this  answer,  which  went  to  show 
that  the  witness  could  reply  a  little  at  random,  and  was  not 
always  certain  of  his.  facts,  when  pressed. 

"Are  you  certain  that  Dorothy  Goodwin  is  dead?" 

"  I  suppose  I  am  as  certain  as  any  of  the  neighbours." 

"  That  is  not  an  answer  to  my  question.  Will  you,  and  do 
you  swear  on  your  oath,  that  Peter  Goodwin,  the  person  named 
in  the  indictment,  is  actually  dead?" 

"I'll  swear  that  I  think  so." 

"  That  is  not  what  I  want.  You  see  those  skeletons  —  will 
you  say,  on  your  oath,  that  you  know  them  to  be  the  skeletons 
of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin  ?" 

u  I  '11  swear  that  I  believe  it." 

"  That  does  not  meet  the  question.     Do  you  know  it?" 

"  How  can  I  know  it  ?  I'm  not  a  doctor,  or  a  surgeon.  No, 
I  do  not  absolutely  know  it.  Still,  I  believe  that  one  is  the 
skeleton  of  Peter  Goodwin,  and  the  other  the  skeleton  of  his 
wife." 

"  Which  do  you  suppose  to  be  the  skeleton  of  Peter  Good 
win?" 

This  question  puzzled  the  witness  not  a  little.  To  the  ordinary 
eye,  there  was  scarcely  any  difference  in  the  appearance  of  these 
sad  remains ;  though  one  skeleton  had  been  ascertained  by  actual 
measurement  to  be  about  an  inch  and  a  half  longer  than  the 
other.  This  fact  was  known  to  all  in  Biberry ;  but  it  was  not 
easy  to  say  which  was  which,  at  a  glance.  The  witness  took  the 
safe  course,  therefore,  of  putting  his  opinion  altogether  on  a  dif 
ferent  ground. 

"  I  do  not  pretend  to  tell  one  from  the  other,"  was  the  answer. 
"  What  I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  is  this,  and  this  only.  I 
knew  Peter  and  Dorothy  G  oodwin ;  knew  the  house  they  lived 
in ;  know  that  the  house  has  been  burnt  down,  and  that  the  old 


376          -         THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

folks  are  not  about  their  old  ha'nts.  The  skeletons  I  never  saw 
until  they  were  moved  from  the  place  where  they  tell  me  they 
were  found;  for  I  -was  busy  helping  to  get  the  articles  saved 
under  cover." 

"  Then  you  do  not  pretend  to  know  which  skeleton  is  that  of 
a  man,  or  which  that  of  a  woman  ?" 

This  question  was  ingeniously  put,  and  had  the  effect  to  make 
all  the  succeeding  witnesses  shy  on  this  point;  for  it  created  a 
belief  that  there  was  a  difference  that  might  be  recognized  by 
those  who  are  skilled  in  such  matters.  The  witness  assented  to 
the  view  of  Dunscomb ;  and  having  been  so  far  sifted  as  to  show 
he  knew  no  more  than  all  the  rest  of  the  neighbours,  he  was 
suffered  to  quit  the  stand.  The  result  was  that  very  little  was 
actually  established  by  means  of  this  testimony.  It  was  evident 
that  the  jury  was  now  on  the  alert,  and  not  disposed  to  receive 
all  that  was  said  as  gospel. 

The  next  point  was  to  make  out  all  the  known  facts  of  the 
fire,  and  of  the  finding  of  the  skeletons.  The  two  witnesses  just 
examined  had  seen  the  close  of  the  fire,  had  heard  of  the  skele 
tons,  but  had  said  very  little  more  to  the  purpose.  Dunscomb 
thought  it  might  be  well  to  throw  in  a  hint  to  this  effect  in  the 
present  state  of  the  case,  as  he  now  did  by  remarking — 

"  I  trust  that  the  District  Attorney  will  see  precisely  where  he 
stands.  All  that  has  yet  been  shown  by  legal  proof  are  the  facts 
that  there  were  such  persons  as  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin ; 
facts  we  are  not  at  all  disposed  to  deny " 

"  And  that  they  have  not  appeared  in  the  flesh  since  the  night 
of  the  fire?"  put  in  Williams. 

"  Not  to  the  witnesses ;  but,  to  how  many  others,  does  not 
appear." 

"  Does  the  learned  counsel  mean  to  set  up  the  defence  that 
Goodwin  and  his  wife  are  not  dead?" 

"  It  is  for  the  prosecution  to  sh  DW  the  contrary  affirmatively. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  377 

If  it  be  so,  it  is  fair  to  presume  they  can  do  it.  All  I  now  con 
tend  for,  is  the  fact  that  we  have  no  proof  as  yet  that  either  is 
dead.  We  have  proof  that  the  house  was  burnt;  but  we  are 
now  traversing  an  indictment  for  murder,  and  not  that  fcr  arson. 
As  yet,  it  strikes  me,  therefore,  nothing  material  has  been  shown/7 

"  It  is  certainly  material,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  that  there  should 
have  been  such  persons  as  the  Goodwins,  and  that  they  have  dis 
appeared  since  the  night  of  the  fire ;  and  this  much  is  proved, 
unless  you  impeach  the  witnesses,"  observed  the  judge. 

"  Well,  sir,  that  much  we  are  not  disposed  to  deny.  There 
were  such  persons  as  the  Goodwins,  and  they  have  disappeared 
from  the  neighbourhood.  We  believe  that  much  ourselves." 

"  Crier,  call  Peter  Bacon." 

Bacon  came  forward,  dressed  in  an  entire  new  suit  of  clothes,  and 
appearing  much  more  respectable  than  was  his  wont.  This  man's 
testimony  was  almost  word  for  word  as  it  has  already  been  given 
in  the  coroner's  inquest.  He  established  the  facts  of  the  fire, 
about  which  there  could  be  no  prudent  contention  indeed,  and  of 
the  finding  of  the  skeletons;  for  he  had  been  one  of  those  who 
aided  in  first  searching  the  ruins  for  the  remains.  This  man  told 
his  story  in  an  extremely  vulgar  dialect,  as  we  have  had  already 
occasion  to  show;  but  in  a  very  clear,  distinct  manner.  He 
meant  to  tell  the  truth,  and  succeeded  reasonably  well ;  for  it 
does  not  occur  to  all  who  have  the  same  upright  intentions  to 
effect  their  purposes  as  well  as  he  did  himself.  Dunscomb's 
cross-examination  was  very  brief;  for  he  perceived  it  was  useless 
to  attempt  to  deny  what  had  been  thus  proved. 

"  Jane  Pope"  —  called  out  the  District  Attorney  —  "  Is  Mrs 
Jane  Pope  "in  court  V 

The  widow  Pope  was  on  the  spot,  and  ready  and  willing  to 
answer.  She  removed  her  bonnet,  took  the  oath,  and  was  shown 
to  the  seat  with  which  it  is  usual  to  accommodate  persons  of 
her  sex. 


378  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  Your  name/7  said  Dunscomb,  holding  his  pen  over  the  paper. 

"  Pope  —  Jane  Pope  since  my  marriage ;  but  Jane  Anderson 
from  my  parents." 

Dunscomb  listened  politely,  but  recorded  no  more  than  the 
appellation  of  the  widow.  Mrs.  Pope  now  proceeded  to  tell  her 
story,  which  she  did  reasonably  well,  though  not  without  a  good 
deal  of  unnecessary  amplitude,  and  some  slight  contradictions. 
It  was  her  intention,  also,  to  tell  nothing  but  the  truth;  but 
persons  whose  tongues  move  as  nimbly  as  that  of  this  woman's, 
do  not  always  know  exactly  what  they  do  say.  Dunscomb  de 
tected  the  contradictions ;  but  he  had  the  tact  to  see  their  cause, 
saw  that  they  were  not  material,  and  wisely  abstained  from  con 
founding  whatever  of  justice  there  was  in  the  defence  with  points 
that  the  jury  had  probably  sufficient  sagacity  to  see  were  of  no 
great  moment.  He  made  no  note,  therefore,  of  these  little  over 
sights,  and  allowed  the  woman  to  tell  h*r  whole  story  uninter 
rupted.  "When  it  came  to  his  turn  to  cross-examine,  however, 
the  duty  of  so  doing  was  not  neglected. 

"  You  say,  Mrs.  Pope,  that  you  had  often  seen  the  stocking  in 
which  Mrs.  Goodwin  kept  her  gold.  Of  what  material  was  that 
stocking?" 

"  Wool — yes,  of  blue  woollen  yarn.  A  stocking  knit  by  hand, 
and  very  darny." 

"  Should  you  know  the  stocking,  Mrs.  Pope,  were  you  to  see 
it  again?" 

"I  think  I  might.  Dolly  Goodwin  and  I  looked  over  the 
gold  together  more  than  once ;  and  the  stocking  got  to  be  a  sort 
of  acquaintance." 

"  Was  this  it?"  continued  Dunscomb,  taking  a  stocking  of  the 
isort  described  from  Timms,  who  sat  ready  to  produce  the  article 
at  the  proper  moment. 

"  If  it  please  the  court,"  cried  Williams,  rising  in  haste,  and 
preparing  eagerly  to  interrupt  the  examination. 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  379 

"  Your  pardon,  sir/'  put  in  Dunscomb,  with  great  self-com 
mand,  but  very  firmly  —  "  words  must  not  be  put  into  the  wit 
ness's  mouth,  nor  ideas  into  her  head.  She  has  sworn,  may  it 
please  your  honour,  to  a  certain  stocking ;  which  stocking  she 
described  in  her  examination  in  chief;  and  we  now  ask  her  if 
this  is  that  stocking.  All  this  is  regular,  I  believe ;  and  I  trust 
we  are  not  to  be  interrupted." 

"Go  on,  sir,"  said  the  judge;  "the  prosecution  will  not  in 
terrupt  the  defence.  But  time  is  very  precious." 

"  Is  this  the  stocking  ?"  repeated  Dunscomb. 

The  woman  examined  the  stocking,  looking  inside  and  out, 
turning  it  over  and  over,  and  casting  many  a  curious  glance  at 
the  places  that  had  been  mended. 

"  It's  dreadful  darney,  isn't  it?"  she  said,  looking  inquiringly 
at  the  counsellor. 

"  It  is  as  you  see,  Ma'am.    I  have  made  no  alteration  in  it." 

"  I  declare  I  believe  this  is  the  very  stocking." 

"  At  the  proper  time,  your  honour,  we  shall  show  that  this  is 
not  the  stocking  if  indeed  there  ever  was  such  a  stocking  at  all," 
said  Timms,  rolling  up  the  article  in  question,  and  handing  it  to 
the  clerk  to  keep. 

"  You  saw  a  certain  piece  of  gold,  you  say,"  resumed  Duns- 
comb,  "  which  piece  of  gold  I  understand  you  to  say  was  after 
wards  found  in  the  pocket  of  Mary  Monson.  Will  you  have  the 
goodness  to  say  whether  the  piece  of  gold  which  you  saw  in  Mrs. 
Goodwin's  possession  is  among  these  ?" — showing  a  dozen  coins; 
"or  whether  one  resembling  it  is  here?" 

The  woman  was  greatly  puzzled.  She  meant  to  be  honest ; 
had  told  no  more  than  was  true,  with  the  exception  of  the  little 
embellishments  that  her  propensity  to  imagine  and  talk  rendered 
almost  unavoidable ;  but,  for  the  life  of  her,'  she  could  not  dis 
tinguish  the  piece  of  money,  or  its  counterpart.  After  examining 
the  coins  for  several  minutes  she  frankly  admitted  her  ignorance. 


380  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  continue  this  cross-examination," 
said  Dunsoomb,  looking  at  his  watch.  "  I  shall  ask  the  court  to 
adjourn,  and  to  adjourn  over  until  morning.  We  have  reached 
the  hour  for  lighting  candles ;  but  we  have  agents  out  in  quest 
of  most  important  witnesses ;  and  we  ask  the  loss  of  this  evening 
as  a  favour.  It  can  make  no  great  difference  as  to  the  length  of 
the  trial;  and  the  jurors  will  be  all  the  fresher  for  a  good  night's 
rest." 

The  court  acquiesced,  and  allowed  of  the  adjournment,  giving 
the  jury  the  usual  charge  about  conversing  or  making  up  their 
opinions  until  they  had  heard  the  whole  testimony;  a  charge 
that  both  Williams  and  Timms  took  very  good  care  to  render  of 
no  use  in  several  instances,  or  as  regarded  particular  individuals. 

A  decided  impression  was  made  in  favour  of  the  prisoner  by 
Mrs.  Pope's  failure  to  distinguish  the  piece  of  money.  In  her 
examination  in  chief  she  saw  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the 
single  piece  then  shown  to  her,  and  which  was  the  Dutch  coin 
actually  found  in  Mary  Monson's  purse ;  but,  when  it  was  put 
among  a  dozen  others  resembling  it,  more  or  less,  she  lost  all 
confidence  in  herself,  and,  to  a  certain  point,  completely  broke 
down  as  a  witness.  But  Dunscomb  saw  that  the  battle  had  not 
yet  in  truth  begun.  What  had  passed  was  merely  the  skirmish 
ing  of  light  troops,  feeling  the  way  for  the  advance  of  the  heavy 
columns  and  the  artillery  that  were  to  decide  the  fortunes  of  the 
day. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

"  'T  is  the  wisest  way,  upon  all  tender  topics,  to  be  silent  for  he  who 
takes  upon  himself  to  defend  a  lady's  reputation,  only  publishes  her  fa- 
vours  to  the  world."  —  Cumberland. 

THE  wing  of  "Horton's  Inn"  that  contained  the  room  of  Duns- 
comb,  was  of  considerable  extent,  having  quite  a  doi;en  rooms  in 
it,  though  mostly  of  the  diminutive  size  of  an  American  tavern 
bed-room.  The  best  apartment  in  it,  one  with  two  windows,  and 
of  some  dimensions,  was  that  appropriated  to  the  counsellor. 
The  doctor  and  his  party  had  a  parlour,  with  two  bed-rooms ; 
while,  between  these  and  the  room  occupied  by  Dunscomb,  was 
that  of  the  troublesome  guest  —  the  individual  who  was  said  to 
be  insane.  Most  of  the  remainder  of  the  wing,  which  was  much 
the  most  quiet  and  retired  portion  of  the  house,  was  used  for  a 
better  class  of  bed-rooms.  There  were  two  rooms,  however,  that 
the  providence  of  Horton  and  his  wife  had  set  apart  for  a  very 
different  purpose.  These  were  small  parlours,  in  which  the  ini 
tiated  smoked,  drank,  and  played. 

Nothing  sooner  indicates  the  school  in  which  a  man  has  been 
educated,  than  his  modes  of  seeking  amusement.  One  who  has 
been  accustomed  to  see  innocent  relaxation  innocently  indulged, 
from  childhood  up,  is  rarely  tempted  to  abuse  those  habits  which 
have  never  been  associated,  in  his  mind,  with  notions  of  guilt, 
and  which,  in  themselves,  necessarily  imply  no  moral  delinquency. 
Among  the  liberal,  cards,  dancing,  music,  all  games  of  skill  and 
chance  that  can  interest  the  cultivated,  and  drinking,  in  modera- 

(381) 


382  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

tion  and  of  suitable  liquors,  convey  no  ideas  of  wrong  doing.  As 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  them  from  early  life,  and  have 
seen  them  practised  with  decorum  and  a  due  regard  to  the  habits 
of  refined  society,  there  is  no  reason  for  concealment  or  conscious 
ness.  On  the  other  hand,  an  exaggerated  morality,  which  has 
the  temerity  to  enlarge  the  circle  of  sin  beyond  the  bounds  for 
which  it  can  find  any  other  warranty  than  its  own  metaphysical 
inferences,  is  very  apt  to  create  a  factitious  conscience,  that  almost 
invariably  takes  refuge  in  that  vilest  of  all  delinquency  —  direct 
hypocrisy.  This,  we  take  it,  is  the  reason  that  the  reaction  of 
ultra  godliness  so  generally  leaves  its  subjects  in  the  mire  and 
sloughs  of  deception  and  degradation.  The  very  same  acts  as 
sume  different  characters,  in  the  hands  of  these  two  classes  of 
persons ;  and  that  which  is  perfectly  innocent  with  the  first,  af 
fording  a  pleasant,  and  in  that  respect  a  useful  relaxation,  be 
comes  low,  vicious,  and  dangerous  with  the  other,  because  tainted 
with  the  corrupting  and  most  dangerous  practices  of  deception. 
The  private  wing  of  Horton's  inn,  to  which  there  has  been  allu 
sion,  furnished  an  example  in  point  of  what  we  mean,  within  two 
hours  of  the  adjournment  of  the  court. 

In  the  parlour  of  Mrs.  McBrain,  late  Dunscomb's  Widow  Up- 
dyke,  as  he  used  to  call  her,  a  little  table  was  set  in  the  middle 
of  the  room,  at  which  Dunscomb  himself,  the  doctor,  his  new 
wife  and  Sarah  were  seated,  at  a  game  of  whist.  The  door  was 
not  locked,  no  countenance  manifested  either  a  secret  conscious 
ness  of  wrong,  or  an  overweening  desire  to  transfer  another's 
money  to  its  owner's  pocket,  although  a  sober  sadness  might  be 
said  to  reign  in  the  party,  the  consequence  of  the  interest  all  took 
in  the  progress  of  the  trial. 

"Within  twenty  feet  of  the  spot  just  mentioned,  and  in  the  two 
little  parlours  already  named,  was  a  very  different  set  collected. 
It  consisted  of  the  rowdies  of  the  bar,  perhaps  two-thirds  of  the 
reporters  in  attendance  on  Mary  Monson's  trial,  several  suitors, 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  383 

four  or  five  country  doctors,  who  had  been  summoned  as  wit 
nesses,  and  such  other  equivocal  gentry  as  might  aspire  to  belong 
to  a  set  as  polished  and  exclusive  as  that  we  are  describing.  We 
will  first  give  a  moment's  attention  to  the  party  around  the  whist- 
table,  in  the  parlour  first  described. 

"  I  do  not  think  the  prosecution  has  made  out  as  well,  to-day, 
all  things  considered,  as  it  was  generally  supposed  it  would/' 
observed  McBrain.  "  There  is  the  ace  of  trumps,  Miss  Sarah, 
and  if  you  can  follow  it  with  the  king,  we  shall  get  the  odd 
trick." 

"  I  do  not  think  I  shall  follow  it  with  anything,"  answered 
Sarah,  throwing  down  her  cards.  "  It  really  seems  heartless  to 
be  playing  whist,  with  a  fellow-creature  of  our  acquaintance  on 
trial  for  her  life." 

"  T  have  not  half  liked  the  game,"  said  the  quiet  Mrs.  McBrain, 
"  but  Mr.  Dunscomb  seemed  so  much  bent  on  a  rubber,  I  scarce 
knew  how  to  refuse  him." 

"Why,  true  enough,  Tom,"  put  in  the  doctor,  "this  is  all 
your  doings,  and  if  there  be  anything  wrong  about  it,  you  will 
have  to  bear  the  blame." 

"Play  anything  but  a  trump,  Miss  Sarah,  and  we  get  the 
game.  You  are  quite  right,  Ned" — throwing  down  the  pack — 
"  the  prosecution  has  not  done  as  well  as  I  feared  they  might. 
That  Mrs.  Pope  was  a  witness  I  dreaded,  but  her  testimony 
amounts  to  very  little,  in  itself;  and  what  she  has  said,  has  been 
pretty  well  shaken  by  her  ignorance  of  the  coin." 

"  I  really  begin  to  hope  the  unfortunate  lady  may  be  inno 
cent,"  said  the  doctor. 

"  Innocent !"  exclaimed  Sarah  • —  "  surely,  uncle  Ned,  you  can 
never  have  doubted  it!" 

McBrain  and  Dunscomb  exchanged  significant  glances,  and  the 
last  was  about  to  answer,  when  raising  his  eyes,  he  saw  a  strange 
form  glide  stealthily  into  the  room,  and  place  itself  in  a  dark  cor- 


384  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

ner.  It  was  a  short,  sturdy  figure  of  a  man,  with  all  those  signs 
of  squalid  misery  in  his  countenance  and  dress  that  usually  de 
note  mental  imbecility.  He  seemed  anxious  to  conceal  himself, 
and  did  succeed  in  getting  more  than  half  of  his  person  beneath 
a  shawl  of  Sarah's,  ere  he  was  seen  by  any  of  the  party  but  the 
counsellor.  It  at  once  occurred  to  the  latter  that  this  was  the 
being  who  had  more  than  once  disturbed  him  by  his  noise,  and 
who  Mrs.  Horton  had  pretty  plainly  intimated  was  out  of  his 
mind ;  though  she  had  maintained  a  singularly  discreet  silence 
for  her,  touching  his  history  and  future  prospects.  She  believed 
"  he  had  been  brought  to  court  by  his  friends,  to  get  some  order, 
or  judgment — may  be,  his  visit  had  something  to  do  with  the  new 
code,  about  which  'Squire  Dunscomb  said  so  many  hard  things." 

A  little  scream  from  Sarah  soon  apprised  all  in  the  room  of 
the  presence  of  this  disgusting-looking  object.  She  snatched 
away  her  shawl,  leaving  the  idiot,  or  madman,  or  whatever  he 
might  be,  fully  exposed  to  view,  and  retreated,  herself,  behind 
her  uncle's  chair. 

"I  fancy  you  have  mistaken  your  room,  my  .-friend,"  said 
Dunscomb,  mildly.  "  This,  as  you  see,  is  engaged  by  a  card- 
party —  I  take  it,  you  do  not  play." 

A  look  of  cunning  left  very  little  doubt  of  the  nature  of  the 
malady  with  which  this  unfortunate  being  was  afflicted.  He 
made  a  clutch  at  the  cards,  laughed,  then  drew  back,  and  began 
to  mutter. 

"She  won't  let  me  play,"  mumbled  the  idiot  —  "she  never 
would." 

Whom  do  you  mean  by  she ?"  asked  Dunscomb.  "Is  it  any 
one  in  this  house  —  Mrs.  Horton,  for  instance  ?" 

Another  cunning  look,  with  a  shake  of  the  head,  for  an  an 
swer  in  the  negative. 

"  Be  you  'Squire  Dunscomb,  the  great  York  lawyer  ?"  asked 
the  stranger,  with  interest.  "  / 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  33£ 

44  Dunscomb  is  certainly  my  name  —  though  I  have  not  the 
pleasure  of  knowing  yours." 

"  I  haven't  got  any  name.  They  may  ask  me  from  morning 
to  night,  and  I  won't  tell.  She  won't  let  me." 

•"By  she,  you  again  mean  Mrs.  Horton,  I  suppose?'' 

"  No  I  don't.  Mrs.  Horton  's  a  good  woman  ;  she  gives  me 
victuals  and  drink." 

"  Tell  us  whom  you  do  mean,  then." 

"Won't  you  tell?" 

41  Not  unless  it  be  improper  to  keep  the  secret.  Who  is  this 
she?" 

"Why,  she." 

"Ay,  but  who?' 

<l  Mary  Monson.  If  you  're  the  great  lawyer  from  York,  and 
they  say  you  be,  you  must  know  all  about  Mary  Monson." 

"This  is  very  extraordinary!"  said  Dunscomb,  regarding  his 
companion,  in  surprise.  "I  do  know  something  about  Mary 
Monson,  but  not  all  about  her.  Can  you  tell  me  any 
thing?" 

Here  the  stranger  advanced  a  little  from  his  corner,  listened, 
as  if  fearful  of  being  surprised,  then  laid  a  finger  on  his  lip,  and 
made  the  familiar  sound  for  '  hush.' 

"  Don't  let  her  hear  you;  if  you  do,  you  may  be  sorry  for  it. 
She's  a  witch!" 

"  Poor  fellow  !  —  she  seems,  in  truth,  to  have  bewitched  you, 
as  I  dare  say  she  may  have  done  many  another  man." 

"  That  has  she  !  I  wish  you  'd  tell  me  what  I  want  to  know, 
if  you  really  be  the  great  lawyer  from  York." 

"Put  your  questions,  my  friend;  I'll  endeavour  to  answer 
them." 

"  Who  set  fire  to  the  house  ?     Can  you  tell  me  that  ?" 

"  That  is  a  secret  yet  to  be  discovered  —  do  you  happen  to 
know  anything  about  it?" 

17 


386  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"Do  I ?  —  I  think  I  do.  Ask  Mary  Monson ;  she  can  tell 
you." 

All  this  was  so  strange,  that  the  whole  party  now  gazed  at 
each  other  in  mute  astonishment ;  McBrain  bending  his  looks 
more  intently  on  the  stranger,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  true  na 
ture  of  the  mental  malady  with  which  he  was  obviously  afflicted. 
In  some  respects  the  disease  wore  the  appearance  of  idiocy; 
then  again  there  were  gleams  of  the  countenance  that  savoured 
of  absolute  madness. 

"  You  are  of  opinion,  then,  that  Mary  Monson  knows  who  set 
fire  to  the  house/' 

"  Sartain,  she  does.     I  know,  too,  but  I  won't  tell.     They 
Jght  want  to  hang  me,  as  well  as  Mary  Monson,  if  I  told.     I 
*now  too  much  to  do  anything  so  foolish.     Mary  has  said  they 
would  hang  me,  if  I  tell.     I  donrt  want  to  be  hanged,  a  bit." 

A  shudder  from  Sarah  betrayed  the  effect  of  these  words  on 
the  listeners  ;  and  Mrs.  McBrain  actually  rose  with  the  intention 
of  sending  for  her  daughter,  who  was  then  in  the  gaol,  consoling 
the  much-injured  prisoner,  as  Anna  Updyke  firmly  believed  her 
to  be,  by  her  gentle  but  firm  friendship.  A  word  from  the  doc 
tor,  however,  induced  her  to  resume  her  seat,  and  to  await  the 
result  with  a  greater  degree  of  patience. 

"  Mary  Monson  would  seem  to  be  a  very  prudent  counsellor," 
rejoined  Dunscomb. 

"Yes;  but  she  isn't  the  great  counsellor  from  York — you  be 
that  gentleman,  they  tell  me." 

"  May  I  ask  who  told  you  anything  about  me  ?" 

"  Nancy  Horton  —  and  so  did  Mary  Monson.  Nancy  said  if 
I  made  so  much  noise,  I  should  disturb  the  great  counsellor  from 
York,  and  he  might  get  me  hanged  for  it.  I  was  only  singing 
hymns,  and  they  say  it  is  good  for  folks  in  trouble  to  sing  hymns.. 
If  you  be  the  great  counsellor  from  York,  I  wish  you  would  telJ 
me  one  thing.  Who  got  the  gold  that  was  in  the  stocking  ?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR,  38T 

"  Do  you  happen  to  know  anything  of  that  stocking,  or  of  the 
gold?" 

"  Do  I  • — "  looking  first  over  one  shoulder,  then  over  the  other, 
but  hesitating  to  proceed.  "  Will  they  hang  me,  if  I  tell  ?" 

"  I  should  think  not ;  though  I  can  only  give  you  an  opinion 
Do  not  answer,  unless  it  be  agreeable  to  you." 

"  I  want  to  tell  —  I  want  to  tell  all,  but  I  'in  afeard.  I  don't 
want  to  be  hanged." 

"  Well,  then,  speak  out  boldly,  and  I  will  promise  that  you 
shall  not  be  hanged.  Who  got  the  gold  that  was  in  the 
stocking?'-' 

"  Mary  Monson.  That 's  the  way  she  has  got  so  much 
money." 

"  I  cannot  consent  to  leave  Anna  another  instant  in  such  com 
pany!"  exclaimed  the  anxious  mother.  "Go,  McBrain,  and 
bring  her  hither  at  once." 

"  You  are  a  little  premature,"  coolly  remarked  Dunscomb. 
"  This  is  but  a  person  of  weak  mind ;  and  too  much  importance 
should  not  be  attached  to  his  words.  Let  us  hear  what  further 
he  may  have  to  say." 

It  was  too  late.  The  footstep  of  Mrs.  Horton  was  heard  in 
the  passage ;;  and  the  extraordinary  being  vanished  as  suddenly 
and  as  stealthily  as  he  had  entered. 

"What  can  be  made  of  this?"  McBrain  demanded,  when  a 
moment  had  been  taken  to  reflect. 

"  Nothing,  Ned ;  I  care  not  if  Williams  knew  it  all.  The 
testimony  of  such  a  man  cannot  be  listened  to  for  an  instant.  It 
is  wrong  in  us  to  give  it  a  second  thought;  though  I  perceive 
that  you  do.  Half  the  mischief  in  the  world  is  caused  by  mis 
conceptions,  arising  from  a  very  numerous  family  of  causes ;  one 
of  which  is  a  disposition  to  fancy  a  great  deal  from  a  little.  Do 
ycu  pronounce  the  man  an  idiot  —  or  is  he  a  madman?" 

"  He  does  not  strike  me  as  absolutely  either.     There  is  some- 


388  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

thing  peculiar  in  his  case ;  and  I  shall  ask  permission  to  look 
into  it.  I  suppose  we  are  done  with  the  cards  —  shall  I  go  for 
Anna?" 

The  anxious  mother  gave  a  ready  assent ;  and  McBrain  went 
one  way,  while  Dunscomb  retired  to  his  own  room,  not  without 
stopping  before  his  neighbour's  door,  whom  he  heard  muttering 
and  menacing  within. 

All  this  time  the  two  little  parlours  mentioned  were  receiving 
their  company.  The  law  is  doubtless  a  very  elevated  profession, 
when  its  practice  is  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  its  true  objects. 
It  becomes  a  very  different  pursuit,  however,  when  its  higher 
walks  are  abandoned,  to  choose  a  path  amid  its  thickets  and  quag 
mires.  Perhaps  no  human  pursuit  causes  a  wider  range  of  cha 
racter  among  its  votaries,  than  the  practice  of  this  profession. 
In  the  first  place,  the  difference,  in  an  intellectual  point  of  view, 
between  the  man  who  sees  only  precedents,  and  the  man  who 
sees  the  principles  011  which  they  are  founded,  is  as  marked  as 
the  difference  between  black  and  white.  To  this  great  distinction 
in  mind,  is  to  be  added  another  that  opens  a  still  wider  chasm, 
the  results  of  practice,  and  which  depends  on  morals.  While 
one  set  of  lawyers  turn  to  the  higher  objects  of  their  calling, 
declining  fees  in  cases  of  obviously  questionable  right,  and 
struggle  to  maintain  their  honesty  in  direct  collision  with  the 
world  and  its  temptations,  another,  and  much  the  largest,  falls 
readily  into  the  practices  of  their  craft  —  the  word  seems  admi 
rably  suited  to  the  subject — and  live  on,  encumbered  and  endan 
gered  not  only  by  their  own  natural  vices,  but  greatly  damaged 
by  those  that  in  a  manner  they  adopt,  as  it  might  be  ex  of  do. 
This  latter  course  is  unfortunately  that  taken  by  a  vast  number 
of  the  members  of  the  bar  all  over  the  world,  rendering  them 
loose  in  their  social  morality,  ready  to  lend  themselves  and  their 
talents  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  causing  them  to  be  at  first 
Indifferent,  and  in  the  end  lilind,  to  the  great  features  of  right 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  889 

and  wrong.  These  are  the  moralists  who  advance  the  doctrine 
that  "  the  advocate  has  a  right  to  act  as  his  client  would  act ;" 
while  the  class  first  named  allow  that  "  the  advocate  has  a  right 
to  do  what  his  client  has  a  right  to  do,"  and  no  more. 

Perhaps  there  was  not  a  single  member  of  the  profession  pre 
sent  that  night  in  the  two  little  parlours  of  Mrs.  Horton,  who 
recognized  the  latter  of  these  rules ;  or  who  did  not,  at  need, 
practise  on  the  former.  As  has  been  already  said,  these  were 
the  rowdies  of  the  Duke's  county  bar.  They  chewed,  smoked, 
drank,  and  played,  each  and  all  coarsely.  To  things  that  were 
innocent  in  themselves  they  gave  the  aspect  of  guilt  by  their 
own  manners.  The  doors  were  kept  locked;  even  amid  their 
coarsest  jokes,  their  ribaldry,  their  oaths  that  were  often  revolt 
ing  and  painfully  frequent,  there  was  an  uneasy  watchfulness,  as 
if  they  feared  detection.  There  was  nothing  frank  and  manly 
in  the  deportment  of  these  men.  Chicanery,  management,  double- 
dealing,  mixed  up  with  the  outbreakings  of  a  coarse  standard  of 
manners,  were  visible  in  all  they  said  or  did,  except,  perhaps,  at 
those  moments  when  hypocrisy  was  paying  its  homage  to  virtue. 
This  hypocrisy,  however,  had  little,  or  at  most  a  very  indirect 
connection  with  anything  religious.  The  offensive  offshoots  of 
the  exaggerations  that  were  so  abounding  among  us  half  a  cen 
tury  since,  are  giving  place  to  hypocrisy  of  another  school.  The 
homage  that  was  then  paid  to  principles,  however  erroneous  and 
forbidding,  is  now  paid  to  the  ballot-boxes.  There  was  scarcely 
an  individual  around  those  card-tables,  at  which  the  play  was  so 
obviously  for  the  stakes  as  to  render  the  whole  scene  revolting, 
who  would  not  have  shrunk  from  having  his  amusements  known. 
It  would  seem  as  if  conscience  consulted  taste.  Everything  was 
coarse  and  offensive;  the  attitudes,  oaths,  conversation,  liquors, 
and  even  the  manner  of  drinking  them.  Apart  from  the  dialogue, 
little  was  absolutely  done  that  might  not  have  been  made  to  lose 
most  of  its  repulsiveness,  by  adopting  a  higher  school  of  manners ; 


390  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

but  of  this  these  scions  of  a  noble  stock  knew  no  more  than  they 
did  of  the  parent  stem. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  both  Williams  and  Timms 
were  of  this  party.  The  relaxation  was,  in  fact,  in  conformity 
with  their  tastes  and  practices;  and  each  of  these  excrescences 
of  a  rich  and  beneficent  soil  counted  on  the  meetings  in  Mrs. 
Horton's  private  rooms,  as  the  more  refined  seek  pleasure  in  the 
exercise  of  their  tastes  and  habits. 

"  I  say,  Timms,"  bawled  out  an  attorney  of  the  name  of 
Crooks  —  "  You  play'd  a  trump,  sir  —  all  right  —  go  ahead  — 
first  rate  —  good  play,  that  —  ours  dead.  I  say,  Timms,  you  're 
going  to  save  Mary  Monson's  neck.  When  I  came  here,  I 
thought  she  was  a  case;  but  the  prosecution  is  making  out 
miserably." 

"  What  do  you  say  to  that,  Williams  ?"  put  in  Crooks' s  part 
ner,  who  was  smoking,  playing,  and  drinking,  with  occasional 
'asides'  of  swearing,  all,  as  might  be,  at  the  same  time.  "I 
trump  that,  sir,  by  your  leave  —  what  do  you  say  to  that,  Wil 
liams?" 

"I  say  that  this  is  not  the  court;  and  trying  such  a  cause 
once  ought  to  satisfy  a  reasonable  man." 

"  He 's  afraid  of  showing  his  hand,  which  I  am  not,"  put  in 
another,  exposing  his  cards  as  he  spoke.  "  Williams  always  has 
some  spare  trumps,  however,  to  get  him  out  of  all  his  difficul 
ties." 

"  Yes,  Williams  has  a  spare  trump,  and  there  it  is,  giving  me 
the  trick,"  answered  the  saucy  lawyer,  as  coolly  as  if  he  had 
been  engaged  in  an  inferior  slander-suit.  "  I  shall  be  at  Timms 
pretty  much  by  the  same  process  to-morrow." 

"  Then  you  will  do  more  than  you  have  done  to-day,  Master 
Williams.  This  Mrs.  Jane  Pope  may  be  a  trump,  but  she  is  not 
the  ace.  I  never  knew  a  witness  break  down  more  completely." 

"  We  '11  find  the  means  to  set  her  up  again  —  I  think  that 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        391 

knave  is  yours,  Green  —  yes,  I  now  see  my  game,  which  is  to 
take  it  with  the  queen  —  very  much,  Timms,  as  we  shall  beat 
you  to-morrow.  I  keep  iny  trump  card  always  for  the  last  play, 
you  know." 

"  Come,  come,  Williams,"  put  in  the  oldest  member  of  the 
bar,  a  man  whose  passions  were  cooled  by  time,  and  who  had 
more  gravity  than  most  of  his  companions — "  Come,  come,  Wil 
liams,  this  is  a  trial  for  a  life,  and  joking  is  a  little  out  of  place." 

"  I  believe  there  is  no  juror  present,  Mr.  Marvin,  which  is  all 
the  reserve  the  law  exacts," 

"  Although  the  law  may  tolerate  this  levity,  feeling  will  not. 
The  prisoner  is  a  fine  young  woman ;  and  for  my  part,  though  I 
wish  to  say  nothing  that  may  influence  any  one's  opinion,  I  have 
lieard  nothing  yet  to  justify  an  indictment,  much  less  a  convic 
tion." 

Williams  laid  down  his  cards,  rose,  stretched  his  arms,  gaped, 
and  taking  Timins  by  the  arm,  he  led  the  latter  from  the  room. 
Not  content  with  this,  the  wary  limb  of  the  law  continued  to 
move  forward,  until  he  and  his  companion  were  in  the  open  air. 

"  It  is  always  better  to  talk  secrets  outside  than  inside  of  a 
house,"  observed  Williams,  as  soon  as  they  were  at  a  safe  dis 
tance  from  the  inn-door.  "  It  is  not  too  late  yet,  Timms  —  you 
must  see  how  weak  we  are,  and  how  bunglingly  the  District  At 
torney  has  led  off.  Half  those  jurors  will  sleep  to-night  with  a 
feeling  that  Mary  Monson  has  been  hardly  dealt  by." 

"  They  may  do  the  same  to-morrow  night,  and  every  night  in 
the  month,"  answered  Timins. 

"  Not  unless  the  arrangement  is  made.  We  have  testimony 
enough  to  hang  the  governor/' 

"  Show  us  your  list  of  witnesses,  then,  that  we  may  judge  of 
this  for  ourselves. " 

"  That  would  never  do.  They  might  be  bought  off  for  half 
the  money  that  is  necessary  to  take  us  out  of  the  field.  Five 


392  THE    WAYS   OF   THE   HOUR. 

thousand  dollars  can  be  no  great  matter  for  such  a  woman  ancl 
her  friends. " 

"  Whom  do  you  suppose  to  be  her  friends,  Williams  ? — If  you 
know  them,  you  are  better  informed  than  her  own  counsel." 

"  Yes,  and  a  pretty  point  that  will  make,  when  pressed  against 
you.  No,  no,  Timms ;  your  client  has  been  ill-advised,  or  she  is 
unaccountably  obstinate.  She  has  friends,  although  you  may  not 
know  who  they  are ;  and  friends  who  can,  and  who  would  very 
promptly  help  her,  if  she  would  consent  to  ask  their  assistance. 
Indeed,  I  suspect  she  has  cash  enough  on  hand  to  buy  us  off." 

"  Five  thousand  dollars  is  a  large  sum,  Williams,  and  is  not 
often  to  be  found  in  Biberry  gaol.  But,  if  Mary  Monson  has 
these  friends,  name  them,  that  we  may  apply  for  their  assist 
ance." 

"  Harkee,  Timms ;  you  are  not  a  man  so  ignorant  of  what  is 
going  on  in  the  world,  as  to  require  to  be  told  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet.  You  know  that  there  are  extensive  associations  of 
rogues  in  this  young  country,  as  well  as  in  most  that  are  older.  " 

"  What  has  that  to  do  with  Mary  Monson  and  our  case  ?" 

"  Everything.  This  Mary  Monson  has  been  sent  here  to  get 
at  the  gold  of  the  poor  old  dolt,  who  has  not  been  able  to  conceal 
her  treasure  after  it  was  hoarded.  She  made  a  sub-treasury  of 
her  stocking,  and  exhibited  the  coin,  like  any  other  sub-treasurer. 
Many  persons  like  to  look  at  it,  just  to  feast  their  eyes." 

"  More  to  finger  it;  and  you  are  of  the  number,  Williams  !" 

"  I  admit  it.  The  weakness  is  general  in  the  profession,  I 
believe.  But  this  is  idle  talk,  and  we  are  losing  very  precious 
time.  Will  you,  or  will  you  not,  apply  again  to  your  client  for 
the  money?" 

"  Answer  me  candidly,  a  question  or  two,  and  I  will  do  as  you 
desire.  You  know,  Williams,  that  we  are  old  friends,  and  never 
had  any  serious  difficulty  since  we  have  been  called  to  the  bar." 

"  Oh,  assuredly,"  answered  Williams,  with  an  ironical  smile 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  393 

that  it  might  have  been  fortunate  for  the  negotiation  the  obscurity 
concealed  from  his  companion ;  "  excellent  friends  from  the  be 
ginning,  Timms,  and  likely  to  continue  so,  I  trust,  to  the  last. 
Men  who  know  each  other  as  well  as  you  and  I,  ought  to  be  on 
the  best  of  terms.  For  my  part,  I  never  harboured  a  wrangle 
at  the  bar  in  my  mind  five  minutes  after  I  left  the  court.  Now 
for  your  question." 

"You  surely  do  not  set  down  Mary  Monson  as  the  stool- 
pigeon  of  a  set  of  York  thieves  I" 

"  Who,  or  what  else  can  she  be,  Mr.  Timms  ?  Better  edu 
cated,  and  belonging  to  an  <  upper  ten7  in  villany,  but  of  a  com 
pany  of  rogues.  Now,  these  knaves  stand  by  each  other  much 
more  faithfully  than  the  body  of  the  citizens  stand  by  the  law; 
and  the  five  thousand  will  be  forthcoming  for  the  asking." 

"  Are  you  serious  in  wishing  me  to  believe  you  think  my  client 
guilty!" 

Here  Williams  made  no  bones  of  laughing  outright.  It  ia 
true  that  he  suppressed  the  noise  immediately,  lest  it  should 
attract  attention ;  but  laugh  he  did,  and  with  right  good  will. 

"  Come,  Timms,  you  have  asked  your  question,  and  I  leave 
you  to  answer  it  yourself.  One  thing  I  will  say,  however,  in 
the  way  of  admonition,  which  is  this — we  shall  make  out  such  a 
case  against  her  to-morrow  as  would  hang  a  governor,  as  I  have 
already  told  you." 

"  I  believe  you  've  done  your  worst  already  —  why  not  let  me 
know  the  names  of  your  witnesses?" 

"  You  know  the  reason.  We  wish  the  whole  sum  ourselves, 
and  have  no  fancy  to  its  being  scattered  all  over  Duke's.  ,  I  give 
you  my  honour,  Timms  —  and  you  know  what  that  is  —  I  give 
you  my  honour  that  we  hold  this  testimony  in  reserve." 

"  In  which  case  the  District  Attorney  will  bring  the  witnesses 
on  the  stand ;  and  we  shall  gain  nothing,  after  all,  by  your  with 
drawal," 

17* 


394  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"  The  District  Attorney  has  left  the  case  very  much  to  me.  I 
have  prepared  his  brief,  and  have  taken  care  to  keep  to  myself 
enough  to  turn  the  scales.  If  I  quit,  Mary  Monson  will  be 
acquitted  —  if  I  stay,  she  will  be  hanged.  A  pardon  for  her  will 
be  out  of  the  question  —  she  is  too  high  among  the  '  upper  ten' 
to  expect  that  —  besides,  she  is  not  an  anti-renter." 

"  I  wonder  the  thieves  do  not  combine,  as  well  as  other  folks, 
and  control  votes!" 

"  They  do  —  these  anti-renters  belong  to  the  gangs,  and  have 
already  got  their  representatives  in  high  places.  They  are  l  land- 
pirates/  while  your  client  goes  for  the  old  stockings.  The  differ 
ence  in  principle  is  by  no  means  important,  as  any  clear-headed 
man  may  see.  It  is  getting  late,  Timms." 

"  I  cannot  believe  that  Mary  Monson  is  the  sort  of  person  you 
take  her  for!  Williams,  I've  always  looked  upon  you,  and 
treated  you,  as  a  friend.  You  may  remember  how  I  stood  by 
you  in  the  Middlebury  case?" 

"  Certainly  —  you  did  your  duty  by  me  in  that  matter,  and  I 
have  not  forgot  it." 

The  cause  alluded  to  was  an  action  for  a  "  breach  of  promise," 
which,  at  one  time,  threatened  all  of  Williams' s  "  future  useful 
ness,"  as  it  is  termed ;  but  which  was  put  to  sleep  in  the  end  by 
means  of  Timms' s  dexterity  in  managing  the  "  out-door"  points 
of  a  difficult  case. 

"  Well,  then,  be  my  friend  in  this  matter.  I  will  be  honest 
with  you,  and  acknowledge  that,  as  regards  my  client,  I  have 
had  —  that  is  provided  she  is  acquitted,  and  her  character  comes 
out  fair  —  that  I  have  had  —  and  still  have,  for  that  matter  — 
what " 

"  Are  called  '  ulterior  views/  I  understand  you,  Timms,  and 
have  suspected  as  much  these  ten  days.  A  great  deal  depends  on 
what  you  consider  a  fair  character.  Taking  the  best  view  of  her 
iituation,  Mary  Monson  will  have  been  tried  for  murder  and  j 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  395 

«  Not  if  acquitted  of  the  first.  I  have  the  District  Attorney's 
promise  to  consent  to  a  nolle  prosequi  on  the  last  indictment,  if 
we  traverse  the  first  successfully." 

"  In  which  case  Mary  Monson  will  have  been  tried  for  murder 
only,"  returned  Williams,  smiling.  "  Do  you  really  think,  Timms, 
that  your  heart  is  soft  enough  to  receive  and  retain  an  impression 
as  deep  as  that  made  by  the  seal  of  the  court?" 

"  If  I  thought,  as  you  do,  that  my  client  is  or  has  been  con 
nected  with  thieves,  and  burglars,  and  counterfeiters,  I  would  not 
think  of  her  for  a  moment  as  a  wife.  But  there  is  a  vast  differ 
ence  between  a  person  overtaken  by  sudden  temptation  and  one 
•who  sins  on  calculation,  and  by  regular  habit.  Now,  in  my 
own  case,  I  sometimes  act  wrong  —  yes,  I  admit  as  much  as 

that -" 

"  It  is  quite  unnecessary,"  said  Williams,  drily. 
"  It  is  not  according  to  Christian  doctrine  to  visit  old  offences 
on  a  sinner's  head,  when  repentance  has  washed  away  the  crime." 
"  Which  means,  Timms,  that  you  will  marry  Mary  Monson, 
although  she  may  be  guilty ;  provided  always,  that  two  very  im 
portant  contingencies  are  favourably  disposed  of." 

"  What  contingencies  do  you  allude  to,  Williams  ?  I  know 
of  none." 

"  One  is,  provided  she  will  have  you ;  the  other  is,  provided 
she  is  not  hanged." 

"  As  to  the  first,  I  have  no  great  apprehension ;  women  that 
have  been  once  before  a  court,  on  a  trial  for  a  capital  offence,  are 
not  very  particular.  On  my  side,  it  will  be  easy  enough  to  per 
suade  the  public  that,  as  counsel  in  a  most  interesting  case,  I 
became  intimately  acquainted  with  her  virtues,  touched  by  her 
misfortunes,  captivated  by  her  beauty  and  accomplishments,  and 
finally  overcome  by  her  charms.  I  don't  think,  Williams,  that 
such  an  explanation  would  fail  of  its  effect,  before  a  caucus  even. 
Men  are  always  favourably  disposed  to  those  they  think  worsd 


396  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

off  than  they  are  themselves.  A  good  deal  of  capital  is  made 
on  that  principle." 

"I  do  not  know  that  it  would.  Now-a-days  the  elections 
generally  turn  more  on  public  principles  than  on  private  conduct. 
The  Americans  are  a  most  forgiving  people,  unless  you  tell  them 
the  truth.  That  they  will  not  pardon/7 

"  Nor  any  other  nation,  I  fancy.  Human  natur'  revolts  at  it. 
But  that'' — snapping  his  fingers  —  "for  your  elections;  it  is  the 
caucuses  that  I  lay  myself  out  to  meet.  Give  me  the  nomination? 
and  I  am  as  certain  of  my  seat  as,  in  the  old  countries,  a  first 
born  is  to  his  father's  throne." 

"  It  is  pretty  safe  as  a  rule,  I  allow ;  but  nominations  some 
times  fail." 

"  Not  when  regular,  and  made  on  proper  principles.  A  nomi 
nation  is  almost  as  good  as  popularity." 

"  Often  better ;  for  men  are  just  asses  enough  to  work  in  the 
collar  of  party,  even  when  overloaded.  But  all  this  time  the 
night  is  wearing  away.  If  I  go  into  court  in  the  morning,  it 
will  be  too  late.  This  thing  must  be  settled  at  once,  and  that  in 
a  very  explicit  manner." 

"  I  wish  I  knew  what  you  have  picked  up  concerning  Mary 
Monson's  early  life !"  said  Timms,  like  a  man  struggling  with  doubt 

"  You  have  heard  the  rumour  as  well  as  myself.  Some  say 
she  is  a  wife  already;  while  others  think  her  a  rich  widow.  My 
opinion  you  know ;  I  believe  her  to  be  the  stool-pigeon  of  a  York 
gang,  and  no  better  than  she  should  be." 

This  was  plain  language  to  be  addressed  to  a  lover ;  and  "Wil 
liams  meant  it  to  be  so.  He  had  that  sort  of  regard  for  Timms 
which  proceeds  from  a  community  in  practices,  and  was  disposed 
to  regret  that  a  man  with  whom  he  had  been  so  long  connected, 
either  as  an  associate  or  an  antagonist,  should  marry  a  woman  of 
the  pursuits  that  he  firmly  believed  marked  the  career  of  Mary 
MOD  son. 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        397 

The  gentlemen  of  the  bar  are  no  more  to  be  judged  by  appear 
ances  than  the  rest  of  mankind.  They  will  wrangle,  and  seem 
to  be  at  sword's  points  with  each  other,  at  one  moment  j  when 
the  next  may  find  them  pulling  together  in  harmony  in  the  next 
case  on  the  calendar.  It  was  under  this  sort  of  feeling  that 
Williams  had  a  species  of  friendship  for  his  companion. 

"  I  will  try,  Williams/'  said  the  last,  turning  towards  the 
gaol.  "Yes,  I  will  make  one  more  trial." 

"  Do,  my  good  fellow  —  and,  Timms — remember  one  thing; 
you  can  never  marry  a  woman  that  has  been  hanged." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

"The  time  is  precious;  I'll  about  it  straight." 

Earl  of  Essex. 

THE  gaol  presented  a  very  different  scene.  A  solemn  stillness 
reigned  in  its  gallery;  and  even  good  Mrs,  Gott  had  become 
weary  with  the  excitement  of  the  day,  and  had  retired  to  rest. 
A  single  lamp  was  burning  in  the  cell  j  and  dark  forms  were 
dimly  visible  in  the  passage,  without  the  direct  influence  of  its 
rays.  Two  were  seated,  while  a  third  paced  the  stone  but  car 
peted  pavement,  with  a  slow  and  quiet  step.  The  first  were  the 
shadowy  forms  of  Anna  Updyke  and  Marie  Moulin  •  the  last, 
that  of  Mary  Monson.  For  half  an  hour  the  prisoner  had  been 
on  her  knees,  praying  for  strength  to  endure  a  burthen  that  sur 
passed  her  expectations ;  and,  as  is  usual  with  those  who  look 
above  for  aid,  more  especially  women,  she  was  reaping  the  benefit 
of  her  petition.  Not  a  syllable  had  she  uttered,  however,  since 
quitting  the  cell.  Her  voice,  soft,  melodious,  and  lady-like,  was 
now  heard  for  the  first  time. 

"  My  situation  is  most  extraordinary,  Anna,"  she  said ;  "  it 
proves  almost  too  much  for  my  strength  !  This  has  been  a  terri 
ble  day,  calm  as  I  may  have  appeared ;  and  I  fear  that  the 
morrow  will  be  still  harder  to  be  borne.  There  is  an  expression 
about  the  eyes  of  that  man,  Williams,  that  both  alarms  and  dis 
gusts  me.  I  am  to  expect  in  him  a  most  fiery  foe." 

"  Why,  then,  do  you  not  escape  from  scenes  for  which  you  are 

(398) 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  399 

tio  unsuited,  and  leave  this  saucy  "Williams  to  himself,  and  his 
schemes  of  plunder?" 

"  That  would  not  do.  Several  sufficient  reasons  exist  for 
remaining.  Were  I  to  avail  myself  of  the  use  of  the  keys  I 
possess,  and  quit  the  gaol  not  to  return,  good  Mrs.  Grott  and  her 
husband  would  probably  both  be  ruined.  Although  they  are 
ignorant  of  what  money  and  ingenuity  have  done  for  me,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  induce  the  world  to  believe  them  innocent.  But  a 
still  higher  reason  for  remaining  is  the  vindication  of  my  own 
character." 

"  No  one  will  think  of  confounding  you  with  Mary  Monson ; 
and  by  going  abroad,  as  you  say  it  is  your  intention  to  do,  you 
would  effectually  escape  from  even  suspicion." 

"You  little  know  the  world,  my  dear.  I  see  that  all  the 
useful  lessons  I  gave  you,  as  your  school-mamma,  are  already 
forgotten.  The  six  years  between  us  in  age  have  given  me  an 
experience  that  tells  me  to  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  Nothing  is 
go  certain  to  follow  us  as  a  bad  name ;  though  the  good  one  is 
easily  enough  forgotten.  As  Mary  Monson,  I  am  indicted  for 
these  grievous  crimes ;  as  Mary  Monson  will  I  be  acquitted  of 
them.  I  feel  an  affection  for  the  character,  and  shall  not  degrade 
it  by  any  act  as  base  as  that  of  flight." 

"  Why  not,  then,  resort  to  the  other  means  you  possess,  and 
gain  a  speedy  triumph  in  open  court?" 

As  Anna  put  this  question,  Mary  Monson  came  beneath  the 
light  and  stopped.  Her  handsome  face  was  in  full  view,  and  her 
friend  saw  an  expression  on  it  that  gave  her  pain.  It  lasted  only 
a  moment ;  but  that  moment  was  long  enough  to  induce  Anna  to 
wish  she  had  not  seen  it.  On  several  previous  occasions  this 
same  expression  had  rendered  her  uneasy ;  but  the  evil  look  was 
soon  forgotten  in  the  quiet  elegance  of  manners  that  borrowed 
charms  from  a  countenance  usually  as  soft  as  the  evening  sky  in 
September.  Ere  she  resumed  her  walk,  Mary  Monson  shook  her 


400  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

head  in  dissent  from  the  proposition  of  her  friend,  and  passed  oil, 
a  shadowy  but  graceful  form,  as  she  went  down  the  gallery. 

"  It  would  be  premature,"  she  said,  "  and  I  should  fail  of  my 
object.  I  will  not  rob  that  excellent  Mr.  Dunscomb  of  his  honest 
triumph.  How  calm  and  gentlemanlike  he  was  to-day ;  yet  how 
firm  and  prompt,  when  it  became  necessary  to  show  these  quali 
ties/' 

"  Uncle  Tom  is  all  that  is  good ;  and  we  love  him  as  we  would 
love  a  parent." 

A  pause  succeeded,  during  which  Mary  Monson  walked  along 
the  gallery  once,  in  profound  thought. 

"  Yours  promises  to  be  a  happy  future,  my  dear,"  she  said. 
"  Of  suitable  ages,  tempers,  stations,  country  —  yes,  country ;  for 
an  American  woman  should  never  marry  a  foreigner  I" 

Anna  Updyke  did  not  reply ;  and  a  silence  succeeded  that  was 
interrupted  by  the  rattling  of  a  key  in  the  outer  door. 

"  It  is  your  new  father,  Anna,  come  to  see  you  home.  Thank 
you,  kind-hearted  and  most  generous-minded  girl.  I  feel  the 
sacrifices  that  you  and  your  friend  are  making  in  my  behalf,  and 
shall  carry  the  recollection  of  them  to  the  grave.  On  her,  I  had 
no  claims  at  all;  and  on  you,  but  those  that  are  very  slight. 
You  have  been  to  me,  indeed,  most  excellent  friends,  and  a  great 
support  when  both  were  most  needed.  Of  my  own  sex,  and  of 
the  same  social  level,  I  do  not  now  see  how  I  should  have  got  on 
without  you.  Mrs.  Gott  is  kindness  and  good-nature  themselves; 
but  she  is  so  different  from  us  in  a  thousand  things,  that  I  have 
often  been  pained  by  it.  In  our  intercourse  with  you,  how  dif 
ferent  !  Knowing  so  much,  you  pry  into  nothing.  Not  a  question, 
not  a  look  to  embarrass  me ;  and  with  a  perfect  and  saint-like 
reliance  on  my  innocence,  were  I  a  sister,  your  support  could  not 
be  more  warm-hearted  or  firm." 

After  a  short  pause,  in  which  this  singular  young  woman 
wniled,  and  appeared  to  be  talking  to  herself,  she  continued, 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  401 

after  kissing  her  companion  most  affectionately  for  good-night, 
and  walking  with  her  as  far  as  the  door  of  the  gallery,  where  it 
had  been  announced  that  the  doctor  was  waiting  for  his  step 
daughter — 

"  I  wish  I  knew  whether  the  same  faith  goes  through  the  con 
nection —  Mr.  John  Wilmeter?" 

"  Oh  !  He  is  persuaded  of  your  entire  innocence.  It  was  he 
who  excited  so  much  interest  in  me,  on  your  behalf,  before  I  had 
the  least  idea  of  our  having  ever  met  before." 

"  He  is  a  noble-hearted  young  man,  and  has  many  excellent 
qualities  —  a  little  romantic,  but  none  the  worse  for  that,  my 
dear,  as  you  will  find  in  the  end.  Alas  1  alas  !  Those  marriages 
that  are  made  over  a  rent-roll,  or  an  inventory,  need  a  great  deal 
of  something  very  different  from  what  they  possess,  to  render 
them  happy !  Mr.  Wilmeter  has  told  me  that  no  evidence 
could  make  him  believe  in  my  guilt.  There  is  a  confidence  that 
might  touch  a  woman's  heart,  Anna,  did  circumstances  admit  of 
such  a  thing.  I  like  that  Michael  Millington,  too ;  the  name  as 
dear  to  me,  as  is  the  race  of  which  he  comes.  No  matter ;  the  world 
va  son  train,  let  us  regret  and  repine  as  we  may.  And  Uncle 
Tom,  Anna  —  what  do  you  think  of  his  real  opinion  ?  Is  it  in 
my  favour  or  not?" 

Anna  Updyke  had  detected  in  Dunscomb  a  disposition  to 
doubt,  and  was  naturally  averse  to  communicating  a  fact  so  un 
pleasant  to  her  friend.  Kissing  the  latter  affectionately,  she 
hurried  away  to  meet  McBrain,  already  waiting  for  her  without. 
In  quitting  the  dwelling  of  the  building  annexed  to  the  gaol, 
the  doctor  and  Anna  met  Timms  hurrying  forward  to  seek  an 
interview  with  his  client  before  she  retired  to  rest.  An  appli 
cation  at  once  obtained  permission  for  the  limb  of  the  law  to 
enter. 

"  I  have  come,  Miss  Mary,"  as  Timms  now  called  his  client, 
"  on  what  I  fear  will  prove  a  useless  errand ;  but  which  I  have 


402  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

thought  it  my  duty  to  see  performed,  as  your  best  friend,  and 
one  of  your  legal  advisers.  You  have  already  heard  what  I  had 
to  say  on  the  subject  of  a  certain  proposal  of  the  next  of  kin  to 
withdraw  from  the  prosecution,  which  will  carry  with  him  this 
Williams,  with  whom  I  should  think  you  would,  by  this  time, 
be  heartily  disgusted.  I  come  now  to  say  that  this  offer  is 
repeated  with  a  good  deal  of  emphasis,  and  that  you  have  still 
an  opportunity  of  lessening  the  force  that  is  pressing  on  your 
interests,  by  at  least  one-half.  Williams  may  well  count  for 
more  than  half  of  the  vigour  and  shrewdness  of  what  is  doing 
for  the  State  in  your  case." 

"  The  proposal  must  be  more  distinctly  made,  and  you  must 
let  me  have  a  clear  view  of  what  is  expected  from  me,  Mr.  Timms, 
before  I  can  give  any  reply,"  said  Mary  Monson.  "  But  you 
may  wish  to  be  alone  with  me  before  you  are  more  explicit.  1 
will  order  my  woman  to  go  into  the  cell." 

"  It  might  be  more  prudent  were  we  to  go  into  the  cell  our 
selves,  and  leave  your  domestic  outside.  These  galleries  carry 
sounds  like  ear-trumpets  j  and  we  never  know  who  may  be  our 
next  neighbour  in  a  gaol." 

Mary  Monson  quietly  assented  to  the  proposal,  calling  to  her 
woman  in  French  to  remain  outside,  in  the  dark,  while  she  pro 
fited  by  the  light  of  the  lamp  in  the  cell.  Timms  followed,  and 
closed  the  door. 

In  size,  form,  and  materials,  the  cell  of  Mary  Monson  was 
necessarily  like  that  of  every  other  inmate  of  the  gaol.  Its  sides, 
top  and  bottom,  were  of  massive  stones ;  the  two  last  being  flags 
of  great  dimensions.  But  taste  and  money  had  converted  even 
this  place  into  an  apartment  that  was  comfortable  in  all  respects 
but  that  of  size.  Two  cells  opening  on  the  section  of  gallery 
that  the  consideration  of  Mrs.  Gott  had  caused  to  be  screened 
off,  and  appropriated  to  the  exclusive  use  of  the  fair  prisoner, 
one  had  been  furnished  as  a  sleeping  apartment,  while  that  ia 


THE   WA)YS    OF    THE   HOUR.  403 

which  Timms  was  now  received  had  more  the  air  of  a  sort  of 
boudoir.  It  was  well  carpeted,  like  all  the  rest  of  what  might 
be  termed  the  suite ;  and  had  a  variety  of  those  little  elegancies 
that  women  of  cultivated  tastes  and  ample  means  are  almost  cer 
tain  to  gather  about  them.  The  harp  which  had  occasioned  so 
much  scandal,  as  well  as  a  guitar,  stood  near  by ;  and  chairs  of 
different  forms  and  various  degrees  of  comfort,  crowded  the  room, 
perhaps  to  superfluity.  As  this  was  the  first  time  Timms  had 
been  admitted  to  the  cell,  he  was  all  eyes,  gazing  about  him  at 
the  numerous,  signs  of  wealth  it  contained,  with  inward  satisfac 
tion.  It  was  a  minute  after  he  was  desired  to  be  seated  before 
he  could  comply,  so  lively  was  the  curiosity  to  be  appeased.  It 
was  during  this  minute  that  Marie  Moulin  lighted  four  candles, 
that  were  already  arranged  in  bronzed  candlesticks,  making  a 
blaze  of  light  for  that  small  room.  These  candles  were  of  sper 
maceti,  the  ordinary  American  substitute  for  wax.  Nothing  that 
he  then  saw,  or  had  ever  seen  in  his  intercourse  with  his  client, 
so  profoundly  impressed  Timms  as  this  luxury  of  light.  Accus 
tomed  himself  to  read  and  write  by  a  couple  of  small  inferior 
articles  in  tallow,  when  he  did  not  use  a  lamp,  there  seemed  to 
be  something  regal  to  his  unsophisticated  imagination,  in  this 
display  of  brilliancy. 

Whether  Mary  Monson  had  a  purpose  to  answer  in  giving 
Timms  so  unusual  a  reception,  we  shall  leave  the  reader  to  dis 
cover  by  means  of  his  own  sagacity ;  but  circumstances  might 
well  lead  one  to  the  conclusion  that  she  had.  There  was  a  satis 
fied  look,  as  she  glanced  around  the  cell  and  surveyed  its  arrange 
ments,  that  possibly  led  fairly  enough  to  such  an  inference. 
Nevertheless,  her  demeanour  was  perfectly  quiet,  betraying  none 
of  the  fidgeting  uneasiness  of  an  underbred  person,  lest  all  might 
not  be  right.  Every  arrangement  was  left  to  the  servant;  and 
when  Marie  Moulin  finally  quitted  the  cell  and  closed  the  door 
behind  her,  every  thought  of  the  apartment  and  what  it  con- 


404  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

tained  seemed  to  vanish  from  the  mind  of  her  extraordinary 
mistress. 

"  Before  you  proceed  to  communicate  the  purpose  of  your  visit, 
Mr.  Timms,"  Mary  Monson  said,  "  I  shall  ask  permission  to  put 
a  few  questions  of  my  own,  touching  the  state  of  our  cause. 
Have  we  gained  or  lost  by  this  day's  proceedings?" 

"  Most  clearly  gained,  as  every  man  at  the  bar  will  confirm  by 
his  opinion." 

"  That  has  been  my  own  way  of  thinking ;  and  I  am  glad  to 
hear  it  corroborated  by  such  competent  judges.  I  confess  the 
prosecution  does  not  seem  to  me  to  show  the  strength  it  really 
possesses.  This  Jane  Pope  made  a  miserable  blunder  about  the 
piece  of  coin." 

"  She  has  done  the  other  side  no  great  good,  certainly." 

"How  stands  the  jury,  Mr.  Timms?" 

Although  this  question  was  put  so  directly,  Timms  heard  it 
with  uneasiness.  Nor  did  he  like  the  expression  of  Mary  Mon- 
son's  eyes,  which  seemed  to  regard  him  with  a  keenness  that 
might  possibly  imply  distrust.  But  it  was  necessary  to  answer; 
though  he  did  so  with  caution,  and  with  a  due  regard  to  his  own 
safety. 

"It  is  pretty  well,"  he  said,  "though  not  quite  as  much 
opposed  to  capital  punishment  as  I  had  hoped  for.  We  challenged 
off  one  of  the  sharpest  chaps  in  the  county,  and  have  got  in  his 
place  a  man  who  is  pretty  much  under  my  thumb." 

"  And  the  stories  —  the  reports  —  have  they  been  well  circu 
lated?" 

"  A  little  too  well,  I  'm  afraid.  That  concerning  your  having 
married  a  Frenchman,  and  having  run  away  from  him,  has  gone 
through  all  the  lower  towns  of  Duke's  like  wild-fire.  It  has  even 
reached  the  ears  of  'Squire  Dunscomb,  and  will  be  in  the  York 
papers  to-morrow." 

A  little  start  betrayed  the  surprise  of  the  prisoner ;  and  a  look 


THE  WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  405 

accompanied  it,  which  would  seem  to  denote  dissatisfaction  that  a 
tale  put  in  circulation  by  herself,  as  it  would  now  appear,  had 
gone  quite  so  far. 

"  Mr.  Dunscomb !"  she  repeated,  musingly.  "  Anna  Updyke's 
uncle  Tom;  and  one  whom  such  a  story  may  very  well  set  think 
ing.  I  wish  it  had  not  reached  him,  of  all  men,  Mr.  Tiinnis." 

"  If  I  may  judge  of  his  opinions  by  some  little  acts  and  ex 
pressions  that  have  escaped  him,  I  am  inclined  to  think  he 
believes  the  story  to  be,  in  the  main,  true." 

Mary  Monson  smiled ;  and,  as  was  much  her  wont  when  think 
ing  intensely,  her  lips  moved;  even  a  low  muttering  became 
audible  to  a  person  as  near  as  her  companion  then  was. 

"  It  is  now  time,  Mr.  Timms,  to  set  the  other  story  in  motion," 
she  said,  quickly.  "  Let  one  account  follow  the  other ;  that  will 
distract  people's  belief.  We  must  be  active  in  this  matter." 

"  There  is  less  necessity  for  our  moving  in  the  affair,  as  Wil 
liams  has  got  a  clue  to  it,  by  some  means  or  other;  and  his  men 
will  spread  it  far  and  near,  long  before  the  cause  goes  to  the 
jury." 

"  That  is  fortunate  \"  exclaimed  the  prisoner,  actually  clapping 
her  pretty  gloved  hands  together  in  delight.  "  A  story  as  terrible 
as  that  must  react  powerfully,  when  its  falsehood  comes  to  be 
shown.  I  regard  that  tale  as  the  cleverest  of  all  our  schemes, 
Mr.  Timms." 

"  Why  —  yes  —  that  is  —  I  think,  Miss  Mary,  it  may  be  set 
down  as  the  boldest." 

"  And  this  saucy  Williams,  as  you  call  him,  has  got  hold  of  it 
already,  and  believes  it  true  !" 

"  It  is  not  surprising ;  there  are  so  many  small  and  probable 
facts  accompanying  it." 

"  I  suppose  you  know  what  Shakspeare  calls  such  an  invention, 
Mr.  Timms?"  said  Mary  Monson,  smiling. 

"  I  am  not  particularly  acquainted  with  that  author,  ma'am. 


406  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

I  know  there  was  such  a  writer,  and  that  he  was  thought  a  good 
deal  of,  in  his  day ;  but  I  can't  say  I  have  ever  read  him." 

The  beautiful  prisoner  turned  her  large  expressive  blue  eyes 
on  her  companion  with  a  gaze  of  wonder ;  but  her  breeding  pre 
vented  her  from  uttering  what  she  certainly  thought  and  felt. 

"Shakspeare  is  a  writer  very  generally  esteemed,"  she  an 
swered,  after  one  moment  of  muttering,  and  one  moment  to  con 
trol  herself;  "  I  believe  he  is  commonly  placed  at  the  head  of 
our  English  literature,  if  not  at  the  head  of  that  of  all  times 
and  nations  —  Homer,  perhaps,  excepted." 

"  What !  higher,  do  you  think,  Miss  Mary,  than  Blackstone 
and  Kent!" 

"  Those  are  authors  of  whom  I  know  nothing,  Mr.  Timms ; 
but  now,  sir,  I  will  listen  to  your  errand  here  to-night." 

"  It  is  the  old  matter.  Williams  has  been  talking  to  me  again, 
touching  the  five  thousand  dollars." 

"  Mr.  Williams  has  my  answer.  If  five  thousand  cents  would 
buy  him  off,  he  should  not  receive  them  from  me." 

This  was  said  with  a  frown ;  and  then  it  was  that  the  observer 
had  an  opportunity  of  tracing  in  a  face  otherwise  so  lovely,  the 
lines  that  indicate  self-will,  and  a  spirit  not  easily  controlled. 
Alas !  that  women  should  ever  so  mistake  their  natural  means  to 
influence  and  guide,  as  to  have  recourse  to  the  exercise  of  agents 
that  they  rarely  wield  with  effect ;  and  ever  with  a  sacrifice  of 
womanly  character  and  womanly  grace.  The  person  who  would 
draw  the  sex  from  the  quiet  scenes  that  they  so  much  embellish, 
to  mingle  in  the  strifes  of  the  world ;  who  would  place  them  in 
stations  that  nature  has  obviously  intended  men  should  occupy, 
is  not  their  real  friend,  any  more  than  the  weak  adviser  who 
resorts  to  reputed  specifics  when  the  knife  alone  can  effect  a  cure. 
The  Creator  intended  woman  for  a  "  help-meet,"  and  not  for  the 
head  of  the  family  circle ;  and  most  fatally  ill-judging  are  the 
laws  that  would  fain  disturb  the  order  of  a  domestic  government 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  407 

which  is  directly  derived  from  divine  wisdom  as  from  divine 
benevolence. 

"  I  told  him  as  much,  Miss  Mary,"  answered  Timms ;  "  but 
he  does  not  seem  disposed  to  take  '  no'  for  an  answer.  Williams 
has  the  true  scent  for  a  dollar." 

"I  am  quite  certain  of  an  acquittal,  Mr.  Timms;  and  having 
endured  so  much,  and  hazarded  so  much,  I  do  not  like  to  throw 
away  the  triumph  of  my  approaching  victory.  There  is  a  power 
ful  excitement  in  my  situation ;  and  I  like  excitement  to  weak 
ness,  perhaps.  No,  no;  my  success  must  not  be  tarnished  by 
any  such  covert  bargain.  I  will  not  listen  to  the  proposal  for 
an  instant!" 

"  I  understand  that  the  raising  of  the  sum  required  would 
form  no  particular  obstacle  to  the  arrangement  ?"  asked  Timms, 
in  a  careless  sort  of  way  that  was  intended  to  conceal  the  real 
interest  he  took  in  the  reply. 

"  None  at  all.  The  money  might  be  in  his  hands  before  the 
court  sits  in  the  morning ;  but  it  never  shall  be,  as  coming  from 
me.  Let  Mr.  Williams  know  this  definitively ;  and  tell  him  to 
do  his  worst." 

Timms  was  a  little  surprised,  and  a  good  deal  uneasy  at  this 
manifestation  of  a  spirit  of  defiance,  which  could  produce  no 
good,  and  which  might  be  productive  of  evil.  While  he  was 
delighted  to  hear,  for  the  fourth  or  fifth  time,  how  easy  it  would 
be  for  his  fair  client  to  command  a  sum  as  large  as  that  demanded, 
he  secretly  determined  not  to  let  the  man  who  had  sent  him  on 
his  present  errand  know  the  temper  in  which  it  had  been  received. 
Williams  was  sufficiently  dangerous  as  it  was ;  and  he  saw  all  the 
hazard  of  giving  him  fresh  incentives  to  increase  his  exertions. 

"  And  now,  as  this  matter  is  finally  disposed  of,  Mr.  Timms — 
for  I  desire  that  it  may  not  be  again  mentioned  to  me" — resumed 
the  accused,  "  let  us  say  a  word  more  on  the  subject  of  our  new 
report.  Your  agent  has  set  on  foot  a  story  that  I  belong  to  a 


408  THE  WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

gang  of  wretches  who  are  combined  to  prey  on  society ;  and  that, 
in  this  character,  I  came  into  Duke's  to  carry  out  one  of  its  ne 
farious  schemes  ?" 

"  That  is  the  substance  of  the  rumour  we  have  started  at  your 
own  desire ;  though  I  could  wish  it  were  not  quite  so  strong,  and 
that,  there  were  more  time  for  the  reaction." 

"  The  strength  of  the  rumour  is  its  great  merit ;  and,  as  for 
time,  we  have  abundance  for  our  purposes.  Reaction  is  the  great 
power  of  popularity,  as  I  have  heard,  again  and  again.  It  is 
always  the  most  effective,  too,  at  the  turn  of  the  tide.  Let  the 
public  once  get  possessed  with  the  notion  that  a  rumour  so  inju 
rious  has  been  in  circulation  at  the  expense  of  one  in  my  cruel 
condition,  and  the  current  of  feeling  will  set  the  other  way  in  a 
torrent  that  nothing  can  arrest!" 

"  I  take  the  idea,  Miss  Mary,  which  is  well  enough  for  certain 
cases,  but  a  little  too  hazardous  for  this.  Suppose  it  should  be 
ascertained  that  this  report  came  from  us  ?" 

"  It  never  can  be,  if  the  caution  I  directed  was  observed.  You 
have  not  neglected  my  advice,  Mr.  Timms?" 

The  attorney  had  not ;  and  great  had  been  his  surprise  at  the 
ingenuity  and  finesse  manifested  by  this  singular  woman,  in  setting 
afloat  a  report  that  would  certainly  act  to  her  injury,  unless  arrested 
and  disproved  at  a  moment  most  critical  in  her  future  fate.  Ne 
vertheless,  in  obedience  to  Mary  Monson's  positive  commands, 
this  very  bold  measure  had  been  undertaken ;  and  Timms  was 
waiting  with  impatience  for  the  information  by  means  of  which 
he  was  to  counteract  these  self-inflicted  injuries,  and  make  them 
the  instruments  of  good,  on  the  reaction. 

If  that  portion  of  society  which  takes  delight  in  gossip  could 
be  made  to  understand  the  real  characters  of  those  to  whom  they 
commit  the  control  of  their  opinions,  not  to  say  principles,  there 
would  be  far  more  of  reserve  and  self-respect  observed  in  the 
submission  to  this  social  evil,  than  there  is  at  present.  Malice, 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  409 

the  inward  impulses  of  the  propagators  of  a  lie,  and  cupidity, 
are  at  the  bottom  of  half  the  tales  that  reach  our  ears ;  and  in 
those  cases  in  which  the  world  in  its  ignorance  fancies  it  has 
some  authority  for  what  it  says,  it  as  often  happens  that  some 
hidden  motive  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  exhibition  as  the  one  which 
seems  so  apparent.  There  are  a  set  of  vulgar  vices  that  may  be 
termed  the  •"  stereotyped/'  they  lie  so  near  the  surface  of  human 
infirmities.  They  who  are  most  subject  to  their  influence  always 
drag  these  vices  first  into  the  arena  of  talk ;  and  fully  one-half 
of  that  of  this  nature  which  we  hear,  has  its  origin  as  much  in 
the  reflective  nature  of  the  gossip's  own  character,  as  in  any  facts 
truly  connected  with  the  acts  of  the  subjects  of  his  or  her  stories. 

But  Mary  Monson  was  taking  a  far  higher  flight  than  the 
circulation  of  an  injurious  rumour.  She  believed  herself  to  be 
putting  on  foot  a  master-stroke  of  policy.  In  her  intercourse 
with  Timms,  so  nmch  was  said  of  the  power  of  opinion,  that 
she  had  passed  hours,  nay  days,  in  the  study  of  the  means  to 
control  and  counteract  it.  Whence  she  obtained  her  notion 
of  the  virtue  of  reaction  it  might  not  be  easy  to  say ;  but  her 
theory  was  not  without  its  truth ;  and  it  is  certain  that  her  means 
of  producing  it  were  of  remarkable  simplicity  and  ingenuity. 

Having  settled  the  two  preliminaries  of  the  rumour  and  of 
Williams's  proposition,  Timms  thought  the  moment  favourable 
to  making  a  demonstration  in  his  own  affairs.  Love  he  did  not 
yet  dare  to  propose  openly ;  though  he  had  now  been,  for  some 
time,  making  covert  demonstrations  towards  the  tender  passion. 
In  addition  to  the  motive  of  cupidity,  one  of  great  influence  with 
such  a  man,  Timms's  heart,  such  as  it  was,  had  really  yielded  to 
the  influence  of  a  beauty,  manners,  accomplishments,  and  infor 
mation,  all  of  a  class  so  much  higher  than  he  had  been  accus 
tomed  to  meet  with,  as  to  be  subjects  of  wonder  with  him,  not  to 
gay  of  adoration.  This  man  had  his  affections  as  well  as  another; 
and,  while  John  Wilmeter  had  submitted  to  a  merely  passing 

18 


410  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

inclination,  as  much  produced  by  the  interest  he  took  in  an  un 
known  female's  situation  as  by  any  other  cause,  poor  Timms  had 
been  hourly  falling  more  and  more  in  love.  It  is  a  tribute  to 
nature,  that  this  passion  can  be,  and  is,  felt  by  all.  Although  a 
purifying  sentiment,  the  corrupt  and  impure  can  feel  its  power, 
and,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  submit  to  its  influence,  though 
their  homage  may  be  tainted  by  the  grosser  elements  that  are  so 
largely  mixed  up  with  the  compound  of  their  characters.  We 
may  have  occasion  to  show  hereafter  how  far  the  uncouth  attorney 
of  Mary  Monson  succeeded  in  his  suit  with  his  fair  client 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

**  I  challenge  envy, 
Malice,  and  all  the  practices  of  hell, 
To  censure  all  the  action*  of  my  past 
Unhappy  life,  and  taint  me  if  they  can." 

The  Orphan, 

IT  is  to  be  presumed  that  Timms  found  the  means  to  communi 
cate  to  Williams  the  rejection  of  the  latter' s  offer,  before  the 
court  met  next  morning.  It  is  certain  that  the  counsel  associated 
with  the  Attorney-General  manifested  unusual  zeal  in  the  per 
formance  of  duties  that  most  men  would  have  found  unpleasant, 
if  not  painful,  and  that  he  was  captious,  short,  and  ill-natured. 
Just  as  Mary  Monson  came  within  the  bar,  a  letter  was  put  into 
the  hands  of  Dunscomb,  who  quietly  broke  the  seal,  and  read  it 
twice,  as  the  observant  Timms  fancied ;  then  put  it  in  his  pocket, 
with  a  mien  so  undisturbed  that  no  mere  looker-on  would  have 
suspected  its  importance.  The  letter  was  from  Millington,  and 
it  announced  a  general  want  of  success  in  his  mission.  The 
whereabouts  of  31.  de  Larocheforte  could  not  be  ascertained ;  and 
those  who  knew  anything  about  his  movements,  were  of  opinion 
that  he  was  travelling  in  the  "West,  accompanied  by  his  fair,  ac 
complished,  and  affluent  young  consort.  Xone  of  those  who 
would  naturally  have  heard  of  such  an  event,  had  it  occurred, 
could  say  there  had  ever  been  a  separation  between  the  French 
husband  and  the  American  wife.  Millington,  himself,  had  never 
•6en  his  kinswoman,  there  being  a  coolness  of  long  standing  be 
tween  the  two  branches  of  the  family,  and  could  give  little  or  nc 
information  on  the  subject  In  a  word,  he  could  discover  nothing 

(411) 


412  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HO.UR. 

to  enable  him  to  carry  out  the  clue  obtained  in  the  rumour ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  found  a  certain  set,  who  occupied  them 
selves  a  good  deal  with  intelligence  of  that  sort,  were  greatly  dis 
posed  to  believe  the  report,  set  on  foot  by  herself,  that  Mary 
Monson  was  a  stool-pigeon  of  a  gang  of  marauders,  and  doubtless 
guilty  of  everything  of  which  she  had  been  accused.  Millington 
would  remain  in  town,  however,  another  day,  and  endeavour  to 
push  his  inquiries  to  some  useful  result.  Cool,  clear-headed,  and 
totally  without  romance,  Dunscomb  knew  that  a  better  agent 
than  his  young  friend  could  not  be  employed,  and  was  fain  to 
wait  patiently  for  the  discoveries  he  might  eventually  succeed  in 
making.  In  the  mean  time  the  trial  proceeded. 

"Mr.  Clerk,"  said  his  honour,  "let  the  jury  be  called." 
This  was  done,  and  Mary  Monson' s  lips  moved,  while  a  lurk 
ing  smile  lighted  her  countenance,  as  her  eyes  met  the  sympathy 
that  was  expressed  in  the  countenances  of  several  of  the  grave 
men  who  had  been  drawn  as  arbiters,  in  her  case,  between  life 
and  death.  To  her  it  was  apparent  that  her  sex,  her  youth,  per 
haps  her  air  and  beauty,  stood  her  friends,  and  that  she  might 
largely  count  on  the  compassion  of  that  small  but  important  body 
of  men.  One  of  her  calculations  had  succeeded  to  the  letter. 
The  tale  of  her  being  a  stool-pigeon  had  been  very  actively  cir 
culated,  with  certain  additions  and  embellishments  that  it  was 
very  easy  to  disprove ;  and  another  set  of  agents  had  been  hard 
at  work,  all  the  morning,  in  brushing  away  such  of  the  collateral 
circumstances  as  had,  at  first,  been  produced  to  confirm  the  main 
story,  and  which,  in  now  being  pulled  to  pieces  as  of  no  account, 
did  not  fail  to  cast  a  shade  of  the  darkest  doubt  over  the  whole 
rumour.  All  this  Mary  Monson  probably  understood,  and  un 
derstanding,  enjoyed;  a  vein  of  wild  wilfulness  certainly  running 
through  her  character,  leading  in  more  directions  than  one. 

"  I  hope  there  will  be  no  delay  on  account  of  witnesses/ '  ob 
served  the  judge.     (t  Time  is  very  precious." 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  418 

(t  We  are  armed  at  all  points,  your  honour,  and  intend  to  bring 
the  matter  to  an  early  conclusion,"  answered  Williams,  casting 
one  of  those  glances  at  the  prisoner  which  had  obtained  for  him 
the  merited  sobriquet  of  "  saucy. "  "  Crier,  call  Samuel  Bur 
ton." 

Timms  fairly  started.  This  was  breaking  ground  in  a  new 
spot,  and  was  producing  testimony  from  a  source  that  he  much 
dreaded.  The  Burtons  had  been  the  nearest  neighbours  of  the 
Goodwins,  and  were  so  nearly  on  a  social  level  with  them,  as  to 
live  in  close  and  constant  communication.  These  Burtons  con 
sisted  of  the  man,  his  wife,  and  three  maiden  sisters.  At  one 
time,  the  last  had  conversed  much  on  the  subject  of  the  murders ; 
but,  to  Timms'  great  discontent,  they  had  been  quite  dumb  of 
late.  This  had  prevented  his  putting  in  practice  a  method  of 
anticipating  testimony,  that  is  much  in  vogue,  and  which  he  had 
deliberately  attempted  with  these  sometime  voluble  females.  As 
the  reader  may  not  be  fully  initiated  in  the  mysteries  of  that 
sacred  and  all-important  master  of  the  social  relations,  the  law, 
we  shall  set  forth  the  manner  in  which  justice  is  often  bolstered, 
when  its  interests  are  cared  for  by  practitioners  of  the  Timms' 
and  Williams'  school. 

No  sooner  is  it  ascertained  that  a  particular  individual  has  a 
knowledge  of  an  awkward  fact,  than  these  worthies  of  the  bar  set 
to  work  to  extract  the  dangerous  information  from  him.  This  is 
commonly  attempted,  and  often  effected,  by  inducing  the  witness 
to  relate  what  he  knows,  and  by  leading  him  on  to  make  state 
ments  that,  on  being  sworn  to  in  court,  will  either  altogether  in 
validate  his  testimony,  or  throw  so  much  doubt  on  it  as  to  leave 
it  of  very  little  value.  As  the  agents  employed  to  attain  this 
end  are  not  very  scrupulous,  there  is  great  danger  that  their  ima 
ginations  may  supply  the  defects  in  the  statements,  and  substitute 
words  and  thoughts  that  the  party  never  uttered.  It  is  so  easy 
to  mistake  another's  meaning,  with  even  the  best  intentions,  that 


414  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

we  are  not  to  be  surprised  if  this  should  seriously  happen  when 
the  disposition  is  to  mislead.  With  the  parties  to  suits,  this  arti 
fice  is  often  quite  successful,  admissions  being  obtained,  or  sup 
posed  to  be  obtained,  that  they  never,  for  an  instant,  intended  to 
make.  In  the  states  where  speculation  has  cornered  men,  and 
left  them  loaded  with  debt,  these  devices  of  the  eaves-droppers 
and  suckers  are  so  common,  as  to  render  their  testimony  no  im 
material  feature  in  nearly  every  cause  of  magnitude  that  is  tried. 
In  such  a  state  of  society  it  is,  indeed,  unsafe  for  a  suitor  to  open 
his  lips  on  his  affairs,  lest  some  one  near  him  be  employed  to 
catch  up  his  words,  and  carry  them  into  court  with  shades  of 
meaning  gathered  from  his  own  imagination. 

At  first,  Timms  was  under  the  impression  that  the  Burtons 
were  going  to  sustain  the  defence,  and  he  was  placing  himself  on 
the  most  amiable  footing  with  the  females,  three  of  whom  might 
very  reasonably  be  placed  within  the  category  of  matrimony  with 
this  rising  lawyer ;  but,  it  was  not  long  ere  he  ascertained  that 
Williams  was  getting  to  be  intimate,  and  had  proved  to  be  a  suc 
cessful  rival.  Davis,  the  nephew  and  heir  of  the  Goodwins,  was 
a  single  man,  too,  and  it  is  probable  that  his  frequent  visits  to 
the  dwelling  of  the  Burtons  had  a  beneficial  influence  on  his  own 
interests.  Let  the  cause  be  what  it  might,  the  effect  was  clearly 
to  seal  the  lips  of  the  whole  family,  not  a  member  of  which  could 
be  induced,  by  any  art  practised  by  the  agents  of  Timms,  to  utter 
a  syllable  on  a  subject  that  now  really  seemed  to  be  forbidden. 
When,  therefore,  Burton  appeared  on  the  stand,  and  was  sworn, 
the  two  counsel  for  the  defence  waited  for  him  to  open  his  lips, 
with  a  profound  and  common  interest. 

Burton  knew  the  deceased,  had  lived  all  his  life  near  them, 
was  at  home  the  night  of  the  fire,  went  to  assist  the  old  people, 
saw  the  two  skeletons,  had  no  doubt  they  were  the  remains  of 
Peter  Goodwin  and  his  wife,  observed  the  effects  of  a  heavy  blow 
across  the  foreheads  of  each,  the  same  that  was  still  to  be  seen, 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        415 

inferred  that  this  blow  had  destroyed  them,  or  so  far  stunned 
them  as  to  leave  them  incapable  of  escaping  from  the  fire. 

This  witness  was  then  questioned  on  the  subject  of  the  stock 
ing,  and  Mrs.  Goodwin's  hoard  of  money.  He  had  seen  the 
stocking  but  once,  had  often  heard  it  mentioned  by  his  sisters, 
did  not  think  his  wife  had  ever  alluded  to  it,  did  not  know  the 
amount  of  the  gold,  but  supposed  it  might  be  very  considerable, 
saw  the  bureau  examined,  and  knew  that  the  stocking  could  not 
be  found.  In  a  word,  his  testimony  in  chief  went  generally  tc 
sustain  the  impression  that  prevailed  relative  to  the  murders, 
though  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  it  in  this  form,  as  the  cross- 
examination  will  better  explain  his  statements  and  opinions. 

"Mr.  Burton,"  said  Dunscomb,  "you  knew  the  Goodwins 
well?" 

'  Very  well,  sir.  As  well  as  near  neighbours  generally  know 
each  other." 

"Can  you  swear  that  those  are  the  skeletons  of  Peter  and 
Dorothy  Goodwin?" 

"I  can  swear  that  I  believe  them  to  be  such  —  have  no  doubt 
of  the  fact." 

"  Point  out  that  which  you  suppose  to  be  the  skeleton  of  Peter 
Goodwin." 

This  request  embarrassed  the  witness.  In  common  with  all 
around  him,  he  had  no  other  clue  to  his  facts  than  the  circum 
stances  under  which  these  vestiges  of  mortality  had  been  found, 
and  he  did  not  know  what  ought  to  be  his  reply. 

"  I  suppose  the  shortest  of  the  skeletons  to  be  Peter  Good 
win's,  and  the  longest  that  of  his  wife,"  he  at  length  answered 
u  Peter  was  not  as  tall  as  Dorothy." 

"  Which  is  the  shortest  of  these  remains?" 

•"  TL  it  I  could  not  say,  without  measuring.  I  know  that 
Goodwin  was  not  as  tall  as  his  wife  by  half  an  inch,  for  I  have 
(Seen,  them  measure." 


416  THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR. 

"  Then  you  would  say  that,  in  your  opinion,  the  longest  of 
these  two  skeletons  is  tliat  of  Dorothy  Goodwin,  and  the  shortest 
that  of  her  husband?" 

"  Yes,  sir ;  that  is  my  opinion  —  formed  to  the  best  of  nw 
knowledge.  I  have  seen  them  measure." 

"Was  this  measurement  accurate?" 

"  Very  much  so.  They  used  to  dispute  about  their  height, 
and  they  measured  several  times,  when  I  was  by ;  generally  ia 
their  stocking  feet,  and  once  barefoot." 

"  The  difference  being  half  an  inch  in  favour  of  the  wife  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  as  near  as  could  be ;  for  I  was  umpire  more  than; 
once." 

"  Did  Peter  Goodwin  and  his  wife  live  happily  together  ?" 

"  Tolerable  —  much  as  other  married  folks  get  along." 

"  Explain  what  you  mean  by  that." 

"Why,  there's  ups  and  downs,  I  suppose,  in  all  families;, 
Dorothy  was  high-tempered,  and  Peter  was  sometimes  cross- 
grained." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  they  quarrelled  ?" 

"  They  got  r'iled  with  each  other,  now  and  then." 

"Was  Peter  Goodwin  a  sober  man?" 

The  witness  now  appeared  to  be  bothered.  He  looked  around 
him,  and  meeting  everywhere  with  countenances  which  evidently 
reflected  '  yes/  he  had  not  the  moral  courage  to  run  counter  to 
public  opinion,  and  say  l  no/  It  is  amazing  what  a  tyrant  this  con 
centration  of  minds  gets  to  be  over  those  who  are  not  very  clear 
headed  themselves,  and  who  are  not  constituted,  morally,  to  resists 
its  influence.  It  almost  possesses  a  power  to  persuade  these  per 
sons  not  to  put  faith  in  their  own  senses,  and  disposes  them  ta 
believe  what  they  hear,  rather  than  what  they  have  seen.  In 
deed,  one  effect  is  to  cause  them  to  see  with  the  eyes  of  others* 
As  the  l  neighbours/  those  inquisitors  who  know  so  much  of  per 
sons  of  their  association  and  intimacy,  and  so  little  of  all  others 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  417 

very  generally  fancied  Peter  a  sober  .man,  Burton  scarce  knew 
what  to  answer.  Circumstances  had  made  him  acquainted  with 
the  delinquency  of  the  old  man,  bat  his  allegations  would  not  be 
sustained  were  he  to  speak  the  whole  truth,  since  Peter  had  suc 
ceeded  in  keeping  his  infirmity  from  being  generally  known.  To 
a  man  like  the  witness,  it  was  easier  to  sacrifice  the  truth  than 
to  face  a  neighbourhood. 

"I  suppose  he  was  much  as  others/'  answered  Burton,  after 
a  delay  that  caused  some  surprise.  "  He  was  human,  and  had  a 
human  natur'.  Independence  days,  and  other  rejoicings,  I've 
known  him  give  in  more  than  the  temperance  people  think  is 
quite  right ;  but  I  shouldn't  say  he  was  downright  intemperate." 

"  He  drank  to  excess,  then,  on  occasions  ?" 

"  Peter  had  a  very  weak  head,  which  was  his  greatest  diffi 
culty." 

"  Did  you  ever  count  the  money  in  Mrs.  Goodwin's  stocking  ?" 

"  I  never  did.  There  was  gold  and  paper ;  but  how  much  I 
do  not  know." 

"  Did  you  see  any  strangers  in  or  about  the  house  of  the 
Goodwins,  the  morning  of  the  fire?" 

"  Yes ;  two  strange  men  were  there,  and  were  active  in  help 
ing  the  prisoner  out  of  the  window,  and  afterwards  in  getting 
out  the  furniture.  They  were  very  particular  in  saving  Mary 
Monson's  property." 

"Were  those  strangers  near  the  bureau?" 

"Not  that  I  know.  I  helped  carry  the  bureau  out  myself; 
and  I  was  present  ifterwards  in  court  when  it  was  examined  for 
the  money.  We  found  none." 

"What  became  of  those  strangers?" 

"  I  cannot  tell  you.     They  were  lost  to  me  in  the  confusion/' 

"Had  you  ever  seen  them  before?" 

"  Never." 

"Nor  since?" 

18* 


418  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"No,  sir." 

"  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  take  that  rod,  and  tell  me 
what  is  the  difference  in  length  between  the  two  skeletons  ?" 

"  I  trust,  your  honour,  that  this  is  testimony  which  will  not 
be  received,"  put  in  Williams.  "  The  fact  is  before  the  jury, 
and  they  can  take  cognizance  of  it  for  themselves." 

Dunscomb  smiled  as  he  answered — 

"  The  zeal  of  the  learned  gentleman  runs  ahead  of  his  know 
ledge  of  the  rules  of  evidence.  Does  he  expect  the  jury  to 
measure  the  remains;  or  are  we  to  show  the  fact  by  means  of 
witnesses  ?" 

"  This  is  a  cross-examination ;  and  the  question  is  one  in  chief. 
The  witness  belongs  to  the  defence,  if  the  question  is  to  be  put 
at  all." 

"  I  think  not,  your  honour.  The  witness  has  testified,  in  chief, 
that  he  believes  these  remains  to  be  those  of  Peter  and  Dorothy 
Goodwin;  he  has  further  said,  on  his  cross-examination,  that 
Dorothy  was  half  an  inch  taller  than  Peter ;  we  now  wish  to  put 
to  the  test  the  accuracy  of  the  first  opinion,  by  comparing  the 
two  facts  —  his  knowledge  of  the  difference  by  the  former  mea 
surement  as  compared  with  the  present.  It  has  been  said  that 
these  two  skeletons  are  very  nearly  of  a  length.  We  wish  the 
truth  to  be  seen." 

"  The  witness  will  answer  the  question,"  said  the  judge. 

"  I  doubt  the  power  of  the  court  to  compel  a  witness  to  obtain 
facts  in  this  irregular  mode,"  observed  the  pertinacious  Williams. 

"  You  can  note  your  exceptions,  brother  Williams,"  returned 
the  judge,  smiling;  "although  it  is  not  easy  to  see  with  what 
useful  consequences.  If  the  prisoner  be  acquitted,  you  can  hardly 
expect  to  try  her  again ;  and,  if  convicted,  the  prosecution  will 
scarcely  wish  to  press  any  objection." 

Williams,  who  was  as  much  influenced  by  a  bull-dog  tenacity, 
as  by  any  other  motive,  now  submitted ;  and  Burton  took  the 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  419 

rod  and  measured  the  skeletons,  an  office  he  might  have  declined, 
most  probably,  had  he  seen  fit.  The  spectators  observed  surprise 
in  his  countenance ;  and  he  was  seen  to  repeat  the  measurement, 
seemingly  with  more  care. 

•"  Well,  sir,  what  is  the  difference  in  the  length  of  those 
skeletons?"  inquired  Dunscomb. 

"  I  make  it  about  an  inch  and  a  half,  if  these  marks  are  to  be 
relied  on,"  was  the  slow,  cautious,  well-considered  reply. 

"  Do  you  now  say  that  you  believe  these  skeletons  to  be  the 
remains  of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin?" 

"  Whose  else  can  they  be  ?  They  were  found  on  the  spot 
where  the  old  couple  used  to  sleep." 

"  I  ask  you  to  answer  my  question  j  I  am  not  hero  to  answer 
yours.  Do  you  still  say  that  you  believe  these  to  be  the  skeletons 
of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin  ?" 

"  I  am  a  good  deal  non-plussed  by  this  measurement — though 
$ie  flesh,  and  skin,  and  muscles,  may  have  made  a  considerable 
difference  in  life." 

•"  Certainly,"  said  Williams,  with  one  of  his  withering  sneers 
—  sneers  that  had  carried  many  a  cause  purely  by  their  impu 
dence  and  sarcasm  —  "  Every  one  knows  how  much  more  muscle 
a  man  has  than  a  woman.  It  causes  the  great  difference  in  their 
strength.  A  bunch  of  muscles,  more  or  less  in  the  heel,  would 
explain  all  this,  and  a  great  deal  more." 

"  How  many  persons  dwelt  in  the  house  of  Goodwin  at  the 
time  of  the  fire?"  demanded  Dunscomb. 

"  They  tell  me  Mary  Monson  was  there,  and  I  saw  her  there 
during  the  fire  5  but  I  never  saw  her  there  before." 

"  Do  you  know  of  any  other  inmate  besides  the  old  couple  and 
the  prisoner?" 

"  I  did  see  a  strange  woman  about  the  house  for  a  week  or  two 
before  the  fire,  but  I  never  spoke  to  her.  They  tell  me  she  was 
High  Dutch." 


420  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"Never  mind  what  they  tell  you,  Mr.  Burton"  —  observed 
the  judge  —  "  testify  only  to  what  you  know." 

"  Did  you  see  this  strange  woman  at  the  fire,  or  after  the  fire  ?>? 
continued  Dunscomb. 

"  I  can't  say  that  I  did.  I  remember  to  have  looked  round 
for  her,  too;  but  I  did  not  find  her." 

"  "Was  her  absence  spoken  of  in  the  crowd  at  the  time  ?" 

"  Something  was  said  about  it ;  but  we  were  too  much  taker* 
up  with  the  old  couple  to  think  a  great  deal  of  this  stranger." 

This  is  an  outline  of  Burton's  testimony;  though  the  cross- 
examination  was  continued  for  more  than  an  hour,  and  Williams 
had  him  again  examined  in  chief.  That  intrepid  practitioner 
contended  that  the  defence  had  made  Burton  its  own  witness  in 
all  that  related  to  the  measurement  of  the  skeletons ;  and  that 
he  had  a  right  to  a  cross-examination.  After  all  this  contest,  the 
only  fact  of  any  moment  elicited  from  the  witness  related  to  the 
difference  in  stature  between  Goodwin  and  his  wife,  as  has  beer* 
stated  already. 

In  the  mean  time,  Timms  ascertained  that  the  last  report  set 
on  foot  by  his  own  agents,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mary  Monson 
herself,  was  circulating  freely ;  and,  though  it  was  directly  op 
posed  to  the  preceding  rumour,  which  had  found  great  favour 
with  the  gossips,  this  extravagant  tale  was  most  greedily  swal 
lowed.  We  conceive  that  those  persons  who  are  so  constituted, 
morally,  as  to  find  pleasure  in  listening  to  the  idle  rumours  that 
float  about  society,  are  objects  of  pity ;  their  morbid  desire  to  talk 
of  the  affairs  of  others  being  a  disease  that  presses  them  down 
beneath  the  level  they  might  otherwise  occupy.  With  such  per 
sons,  the  probabilities  go  for  nothing ;  and  they  are  mare  inclined 
to  give  credit  to  a  report  that  excites  their  interest,  by  running 
counter  to  all  the  known  laws  of  human  actions,  than  to  give 
faith  to  its  contradiction,  when  sustained  by  every  reason  that 
experience  sustains.  Thus  was  it  on  the  present  occasion.  There 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  421 

was  something  so  audacious  in  the  rumour  that  Mary  Monson 
belonged  to  a  gang  of  rogues  in  town,  and  had  been  sent  espe 
cially  to  rob  the  Goodwins,  that  vulgar  curiosity  found  great 
delight  in  it ;  the  individual  who  heard  the  report  usually  send 
ing  it  on  with  additions  of  his  own,  that  had  their  authority 
purely  in  the  workings  of  a  dull  imagination.  It  is  in  that  way 
that  this  great  faculty  of  the  mind  is  made  to  perform  a  double 
duty  j  which  in  the  one  case  is  as  pure  and  ennobling,  as  in  the 
other  it  is  debasing  and  ignoble.  The  man  of  a  rich  imagination, 
he  who  is  capable  of  throwing  the  charms  of  poetical  feeling 
around  the  world  in  which  we  dwell,  is  commonly  a  man  of  truth. 
The  high  faculty  which  he  possesses  seems,  in  such  cases,  to  be 
employed  in  ferreting  out  facts  which,  on  proper  occasions,  he 
produces  distinctly,  manfully,  and  logically.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  a  species  of  subordinate  imagination  that  is  utterly  inca 
pable  of  embellishing  life  with  charms  of  any  sort,  and  which 
delights  in  the  false.  This  last  is  the  imagination  of  the  gossip. 
It  obtains  some  modicum  of  fact,  mixes  it  with  large  quantities 
of  stupid  fiction,  delights  in  the  idol  it  has  thus  fashioned  out 
of  its  own  head,  and  sends  it  abroad  to  find  worshippers  as  dull, 
as  vulgar-minded,  and  as  uncharitable,  as  itself. 

Timms  grew  frightened  at  the  success  of  his  client's  scheme, 
and  felt  the  necessity  of  commencing  the  reaction  at  once,  if  the 
last  were  to  have  time  in  which  to  produce  its  effect.  He  had 
been  warmly  opposed  to  the  project  in  the  commencement,  and 
had  strenuously  resisted  its  adoption ;  but  Mary  Monson  would 
not  listen  to  his  objections.  She  even  threatened  to  employ  an 
other,  should  he  fail  her.  The  conceit  seemed  to  have  taken  a 
strong  hold  on  her  fancy ;  and  all  the  wilfulness  of  her  character 
had  come  in  aid  of  this  strange  scheme.  The  thing  was  done ; 
and  it  now  remained  to  prevent  its  effecting  the  mischief  it  was 
so  well  adapted  to  produce. 

All  this  time,  the  fair  prisoner  sat  in  perfectly  composed 


422  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

silence,  listening  attentively  to  everything  that  was  said,  and 
occasionally  taking  a  note.  Timms  ventured  to  suggest  that  it 
might  be  better  were  she  to  abstain  from  doing  the  last,  as  it 
gave  her  the  air  of  knowing  too  much,  and  helped  to  deprive  her 
of  the  interesting  character  of  an  unprotected  female ;  but  she 
turned  a  perfectly  deaf  ear  to  his  admonitions,  hints,  and  counsel. 
He  was  a  safe  adviser,  nevertheless,  in  matters  of  this  sort ;  but 
Mary  Monson  was  not  accustomed  so  much  to  follow  the  leadings 
of  others,  as  to  submit  to  her  own  impulses. 

The  sisters  of  Burton  were  next  examined.  They  proved  all 
the  admitted  facts ;  testified  as  to  the  stocking  and  its  contents ; 
and  two  of  them  recognised  the  piece  of  gold  which  was  said  to 
have  been  found  in  Mary  Monson' s  purse,  as  that  which  had 
once  been  the  property  of  Dorothy  Goodwin.  On  this  head,  the 
testimony  of  each  was  full,  direct,  and  explicit.  Each  had  often 
seen  the  piece  of  gold,  and  they  had  noted  a  very  small  notch 
or  scratch  near  the  edge,  which  notch  or  scratch  was  visible  on 
the  piece  now  presented  in  court.  The  cross-examination  failed 
to  shake  this  testimony,  and  well  it  might,  for  every  word  these 
young  women  stated  was  strictly  true.  The  experiment  of  placing 
the  piece  of  coin  among  other  similar  cVm,  failed  with  them. 
They  easily  recognized  the  true  piece  by  the  notch.  Timms  was 
confounded ;  Dunscomb  looked  very  grave ;  "Williams  raised  his 
nose  higher  than  ever;  and  Mary  Monson  was  perfectly  sur 
prised.  When  the  notch  was  first  mentioned,  she  arose,  advanced 
far  enough  to  examine  the  coin,  and  laid  her  hand  on  her  fore 
head,  as  if  she  pondered  painfully  on  the  circumstance.  The 
testimony  that  this  was  the  identical  piece  found  in  her  purse 
was  very  ample,  the  coin  having  been  sealed  up  and  kept  by  the 
coroner,  who  had  brought  it  into  court  •  while  it  must  now  be 
admitted  that  a  very  strong  case  was  made  out  to  show  that 
this  foreign  coin  had  onee  been  among  the  hoards  of  Dorothy 
Goodwin.  A  very  deep  impression  was  made  by  this  testimony, 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  423 

on  all  who  heard  it,  including  the  court,  the  bar,  the  jury  and 
the  audience.  Every  person  present,  but  those  who  were  in  the 
immediate  confidence  of  the  accused,  was  firmly  convinced  of 
Mary  Monson's  guilt.  Perhaps  the  only  other  exceptions  to  this 
mode  of  thinking  were  a  few  experienced  practitioners,  who, 
from  long  habit,  knew  the  vast  importance  of  hearing  both  sides, 
before  they  made  up  their  minds  in  a  matter  of  so  much  moment. 

We  shall  not  follow  Dunscomb  through  his  long  and  arduous 
cross-examination  of  the  sisters  of  Burton ;  but  confine  ourselves 
to  a  few  of  the  more  pertinent  of  the  interrogatories  that  he  put 
to  the  eldest,  and  which  were  duly  repeated  when  the  other  two 
were  placed  on  the  stand. 

"  Will  you  name  the  persons  dwelling  in  the  house  of  the 
Goodwins  at  the  time  of  the  fire?"  asked  Dunscomb. 

"  There  were  the  two  old  folks,  this  Mary  Moason,  and  a 
German  woman  named  Yetty  (Jette),  that  aunt  Dorothy  took  in 
to  wait  on  her  boarders." 

"Was  Mrs.  Goodwin  your  aunt,  then?" 

"  No;  we  wasn't  related  no  how;  but,  being  such  near  neigh 
bours,  and  she  so  old,  we  just  called  her  aunt  by  way  of  a  com 
pliment." 

"  I  understand  that,"  said  Dunscomb,  arching  his  brows  —  "I 
am  called  uncle,  and  by  very  charming  young  persons,  on  the 
same  principle.  Did  you  know  much  of  this  German  ?" 

"  I  saw  her  almost  every  day  for  the  time  she  was  there,  and 
talked  with  her  as  well  as  I  could;  but  she  spoke  very  little 
English.  Mary  Monson  was  the  only  person  who  could  talk 
with  her  freely ;  she  spoke  her  language." 

"  Had  you  much  acquaintance  with  the  prisoner  at  the  bar?" 

"  I  was  some  acquainted ;  as  a  body  always  is,  when  they  live 
such  near  neighbours." 

"  Were  your  conversations  with  the  prisoner  frequent,  or  at 
all  confidential  ?;; 


424  THE   WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR. 

"  To  own  the  truth,  I  never  spoke  to  her  in  my  life.  Mary 
Monson  was  much  too  grand  for  me." 

Dunscomb  smiled;  he  understood  how  common  it  was  fol 
persons  in  this  country  to  say  they  are  "  well  acquainted"  with 
this  or  that  individual,  when  their  whole  knowledge  is  derived 
from  the  common  tongue.  An  infinity  of  mischief  is  done  by 
this  practice;  but  the  ordinary  American  who  will  admit  that 
he  lives  near  any  one,  without  having  an  acquaintance  with  him, 
if  acquaintance  is  supposed  to  confer  credit,  is  an  extraordinary 
exception  to  a  very  general  rule.  The  idea  of  being  "  too  grand" 
was  of  a  nature  to  injure  the  prisoner  and  to  impair  her  rights ;  and 
Dunscomb  deemed  it  best  to  push  the  witness  a  little  on  this  point. 

"  Why  did  you  think  Mary  Monson  was  '  too  grand'  for  you  ?" 
ho  demanded. 

"  Because  she  looked  so." 

"  How  did  she  look  ?  —  In  what  way  does  or  did  her  looks 
indicate  that  she  was,  or  thought  herself  '  too  grand'  for  your 
association?" 

"  Is  this  necessary,  Mr.  Dunscomb  ?"  demanded  the  judge. 

"  I  beg  your  honour  will  suffer  the  gentleman  to  proceed,"  put 
in  Williams,  cocking  his  nose  higher  than  ever,  and  looking  round 
the  court-room  with  an  air  of  intelligence  that  the  great  York 
counsellor  did  not  like.  "It  is  an  interesting  subject;  and  we 
poor,  ignorant,  Duke's  county  folks,  may  get  useful  ideas,  to  teach 
us  how  to  look  < too  grand!'" 

Dunscomb  felt  that  he  had  made  a  false  step ;  and  he  had  the 
self-command  to  stop. 

"  Had  you  any  conversation  with  the  German  woman?"  he 
continued,  bowing  slightly  to  the  judge  to  denote  submission  to 
Ms'  pleasure. 

"  She  couldn't  talk  English.  Mary  Monson  talked  with  her. 
I  didn't,  to  any  account." 

"Were  you  at  the  fire?" 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       425 

"I  was." 

"  Did  you  see  anything  of  this  German  during  the  fire,  or 
afterwards  ? " 

"  I  didn't.     She  disappeared,  unaccountable  ! " 

"  Did  you  visit  the  Goodwins  as  often  after  Mary  Monson 
came  to  live  with  them,  as  you  had  done  previously  ?" 

"  I  didn't  —  grand  looks  and  grand  language  isn't  agreeable 
to  me." 

"Did  Mary  Monson  ever  speak  to  you?" 

"  I  think,  your  honour,"  objected  Williams,  who  did  not  like 
the  question,  "  that  this  is  travelling  out  of  the  record." 

"  Let  the  gentleman  proceed  —  time  is  precious,  and  a  discus 
sion  would  lose  us  more  of  it  than  to  let  him  proceed  —  go  on, 
Mr.  Dunscomb." 

"  Did  Mary  Monson  ever  speak  to  you  ?" 

"  She  never  did,  to  my  knowledge." 

11  What,  then,  do  you  mean  by  l  grand  language  ?' ' 

"  Why,  when  she  spoke  to  aunt  Dorothy,  she  didn't  speak  as 
I  was  used  to  hear  folks  speak." 

"  In  what  respect  was  the  difference  ?" 

"  She  was  grander  in  her  speech,  and  more  pretending  like." 

"Do  you  mean  louder?" 

"No  —  perhaps  she  wasn't  as  loud  as  common  —  but  'twas 
*nore  like  a  book,  and  uncommon." 

Dunscomb  understood  all  this  perfectly,  as  well  as  the  feeling 
which  lay  at  its  bottom,  but  he  saw  that  the  jury  did  not ;  and 
he  was  forced  to  abandon  the  inquiry,  as  often  happens  on  such 
occasions,  on  account  of  the  ignorance  of  those  to  whom  the 
testimony  was  addressed.  He  soon  after  abandoned  the  cross- 
examination  of  the  sister  of  Burton ;  when  his  wife  was  brought 
upon  the  stand  by  the  prosecution. 

This  woman,  coming  from  a  different  stock,  had  none  of  the 
family  characteristics  of  the  sisters.  As  they  were  garrulous, 


426  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

forward,  and  willing  enough  tt>  testify,  she  was  silent,  reserved 
in  manner,  thoughtful,  and  seemingly  so  diffident  that  she  trem 
bled  all  over,  as  she  laid  her  hand  on  the  sacred  volume.  Mrs. 
Burton  passed  for  a  very  good  woman  among  all  who  dwelt  in  or 
near  Biberry ;  and  there  was  much  more  confidence  felt  in  her 
revelations  than  in  those  of  her  sisters-in-law.  Great  modesty, 
not  to  say  timidity  of  manner,  an  air  of  singular  candour,  a  low, 
gentle  voice,  and  an  anxious  expression  of  countenance,  as  if  she 
weighed  the  import  of  every  syllable  she  uttered,  soon  won  for 
this  witness  the  sympathy  of  all  present,  as  well  as  perfect  cre 
dence.  Every  word  she  uttered  had  a  direct  influence  on  the 
case ;  and  this  so  much  the  more  since  she  testified  reluctantly, 
and  would  gladly  have  been  permitted  to  say  nothing. 

The  account  given  by  Mrs.  Burton,  in  her  examination  in 
chief,  did  not  materially  differ  from  that  previously  stated  by  her 
sisters-in-law.  She  knew  more,  in  some  respects,  than  those  who 
had  preceded  her,  while,  in  others,  she  knew  less.  She  had  been 
more  in  the  confidence  of  Dorothy  Goodwin  than  any  other  mem 
ber  of  her  family,  had  seen  her  oftener,  and  knew  more  of  her 
private  affairs.  "With  the  stocking  and  its  contents  she  ad 
mitted  that  she  was  familiarly  acquainted.  The  gold  exceeded 
twelve  hundred  dollars  in  amount;  she  had  counted  it,  in  her 
own  hands.  There  was  paper,  also,  but  she  did  not  know  how 
much,  exactly,  as  Dorothy  kept  that  very  much  to  herself.  She 
knew,  however,  that  her  neighbours  talked  of  purchasing  a  farm, 
the  price  of  which  was  quite  five  thousand  dollars,  a  sum  that 
Dorothy  often  talked  of  paying  down.  She  thought  the  deceased 
must  have  had  money  to  that  amount,  in  some  form  or  other. 

On  the  subject  of  the  piece  of  gold  found  in  Mary  Monson's 
purse,  Mrs.  Burton  gave  her  testimony  with  the  most  amiable 
discretion.  Every  one  compared  the  reserve  and  reluctance  of 
her  manner  most  favourably  with  the  pert  readiness  of  Mrs.  Pope 
and  the  sisters.  This  witness  appeared  to  appreciate  the  effect 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  427 

of  all  she  said,  and  uttered  the  facts  she  knew  with  a  gentleness 
of  manner  that  gave  great  weight  to  her  testimony.  Dunscomb 
soon  saw  that  this  was  the  witness  the  defence  had  most  reason 
to  dread,  and  he  used  the  greatest  care  in  having  every  word  she 
said  written  out  with  precision. 

Mrs.  Burton  swore  point  blank  to  the  piece  of  notched  gold, 
although  she  fairly  trembled  as  she  gave  her  testimony.  She 
knew  it  was  the  very  piece  that  she  had  often  seen  in  Dorothy 
Goodwin's  possession;  she  had  examined  it,  at  least  a  dozen 
times,  and  could  have  selected  it  among  a  thousand  similar  coins, 
by  means  of  its  private  marks.  Besides  the  notch,  there  was  a 
slight  defect  in  the  impression  of  the  date.  This  had  been 
pointed  out  to  her  by  Dorothy  G-oodwin  herself,  who  had  said  it 
was  a  good  mark  by  which  to  know  the  piece,  should  it  be  stolen. 
On  this  head,  the  witness's  testimony  was  firm,  clear,  and  full. 
As  it  was  corroborated  by  so  much  other  evidence,  the  result  wag 
a  deep  and  very  general  impression  of  the  prisoner's  guilt. 

It  was  late  when  the  examination  in  chief  of  Mrs.  Burton  ter 
minated.  She  stated  that  she  was  much  fatigued,  and  was  suf 
fering  under  a  severe  headache;  and  Williams  asked,  in  her 
behalf,  that  the  court  would  adjourn  over,  until  next  day,  ere  the 
cross-examination  was  gone  into.  This  suited  Dunscomb's  views 
altogether,  for  he  knew  he  might  lose  an  essential  advantage  by 
allowing  the  witness  a  night  to  arrange  her  thoughts,  pending  so 
searching  a  process.  There  being  no  resistance  on  the  part  of 
the  prisoner,  to  the  request  of  the  prosecution,  the  judge  so  far 
waived  his  regard  for  the  precious  time  of  the  court,  as  to  consent 
to  adjourn  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  instead  of  pushing  the 
case  to  ten  or  eleven.  As  a  consequence  the  jurors  took  their 
rest  in  bed,  instead  of  sleeping  in  the  jury-box. 

Dunscomb  left  the  court-house,  that  night,  dejected,  and  with 
no  great  expectation  of  the  acquittal  of  his  client.  Timms  had 
a  better  feeling,  and  thought  nothing  had  yet  appeared  that  might 
not  be  successfully  resisted. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

"I've  not  wrong'd  her." 

"Far  be  it  from  my  fears." 

"Then  why  this  argument?" 

"  My  lord,  my  nature 's  jealous,  and  you  '11  bear  it." 

Otuxty. 

So  great  was  the  confidence  of  Sarah  Wilmeter  and  Anna  Up- 
dyke  in  the  innocence  of  their  friend,  that  almost  every  step  that 
the  trial  advanced,  appeared  to  them  as  so  much  progress  towards 
an  eventual  acquittal.  It  was  perhaps  a  little  singular,  that  the 
party  most  interested,  she  who  knew  her  own  guilt  or  innocence, 
became  dejected,  and  for  the  first  half  hour  after  they  had  left 
the  court-room,  she  was  silent  and  thoughtful.  Good  Mrs.  Grott 
was  quite  in  despair,  and  detained  Anna  Updyke,  with  whom 
she  had  established  a  sort  of  intimacy,  as  she  opened  the  door  of 
the  gallery  for  the  admission  of  the  party,  in  order  to  say  a  word 
on  the  subject  that  lay  nearest  to  her  heart. 

"  Oh  !  Miss  Anna/'  said  the  sheriff's  wife,  "it  goes  from  bad 
to  worse  !  It  was  bad  enough  last  evening,  and  it  is  worse  to 
night." 

"  Who  tells  you  this,  Mrs.  G-ott  ?  So  far  from  thinking  as 
you  do,  I  regard  it  as  appearing  particularly  favourable." 

"  You  must  have  heard  what  Burton  said,  and  what  his  wife 
said,  too.  They  are  the  witnesses  I  dread." 

"  Yes,  but  who  will  mind  what  such  persons  say !  I  am  sure 
if  fifty  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burtons  were  to  testify  that  Mary  Monson 
had  taken  money  that  did  not  belong  to  her,  I  should  not  believe 
them" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  429 

"  You  are  not  a  Duke's  county  jury !  Why,  Miss  Anna,  these 
men  will  believe  almost  anything  you  tell  them.  Only  swear  to 
it,  and  there's  no  accounting  for  their  credulity.  No;  I  no 
more  believe  in  Mary  Monson's  guilt,  than  I  do  in  my  own ;  but 
law  is  law,  they  say,  and  rich  and  poor  must  abide  by  it." 

"  You  view  the  matter  under  a  false  light,  my  kind-hearted 
Mrs.  Gott,  and  after  a  night's  rest  will  see  the  case  differently. 
Sarah  and  I  have  been  delighted  with  the  course  of  things.  You 
must  have  remarked  no  one  said  that  Mary  Monson  had  been 
seen  to  set  fire  to  the  house,  or  to  harm  the  Goodwins,  or  to 
touch  their  property,  or  to  do  anything  that  was  wrong ;  and  of 
course  she  must  be  acquitted." 

"  I  wish  that  piece  of  gold  had  not  been  found  in  her  pocket  1 
It's  that  which  makes  all  the  trouble." 

"  I  think  nothing  of  that,  my  good  friend.  There  is  nothing 
remarkable  in  two  pieces  of  money  having  the  same  marks  on 
them ;  I  have  seen  that  often,  myself.  Besides,  Mary  Monson 
explains  all  that,  and  her  declaration  is  as  good  as  that  of  this 
Mrs.  Burton's,  any  day." 

"  Not  in  law,  Miss  Anna ;  no,  not  in  law.  Out  of  doors  it 
might  be  much  better,  and  probably  is ;  but  not  in  court,  by 
what  they  tell  me.  G-ott  says  it  is  beginning  to  look  very  dark, 
and  that  we,  in  the  gaol,  here,  must  prepare  for  the  very  worst. 
I  tell  him,  if  I  was  he,  I  'd  resign  before  I  'd  execute  such  a 
beautiful  creature ! " 

"You  make  me  shudder  with  such  horrid  thoughts,  Mrs. 
G-ott,  and  I  will  thank  you  to  open  the  door.  Take  courage ; 
we  shall  never  have  to  lament  such  a  catastrophe,  or  your  hus 
band  to  perform  so  revolting  a  duty." 

"I  hope  not  —  I'm  sure  I  hope  not,  with  all  my  heart.  1 
would  prefer  that  Gott  should  give  up  all  hopes  of  ever  rising 
any  higher,  than  have  him  do  this  office.  One  never  knows, 
Miss  Anna,  what  is  to  happen  in  life,  though  I  was  as  happy  ad 


430  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

a  child  when  he  was  made  sheriff.  If  my  words  have  any  weight 
with  him,  and  he  often  says  they  have,  I  shall  never  let  him 
execute  Mary  Monson.  You  are  young,  Miss  Anna ;  but  you  've 
heard  the  tongue  of  flattery,  I  make  no  doubt,  and  know  how 
sweet  it  is  to  woman's  ear." 

Mrs.  G-ott  had  been  wiping  her  eyes  with  one  hand,  and  put 
ting  the  key  into  the  lock  with  the  other,  while  talking,  and  she 
now  stood  regarding  her  young  companion  with  a  sort  of  motherly 
interest,  as  she  made  this  appeal  to  her  experience.  Anna 
blushed  'rosy  red/  and  raised  her  gloved  hand  to  turn  the  key, 
as  if  desirous  of  getting  away  from  the  earnest  look  of  the  matron. 

"  That 's  just  the  way  with  all  of  us,  Miss  Anna  I"  continued 
Mrs.  Grott.  "  We  listen,  and  listen,  and  listen ;  and  believe,  and 
believe,  and  believe,  until  we  are  no  longer  the  gay,  light-hearted 
creatures  that  we  were,  but  become  mopy,  and  sighful,  and 
anxious,  to  a  degree  that  makes  us  forget  father  and  mother, 
and  fly  from  the  paternal  roof." 

"Will  you  have  the  kindness,  now,  to  let  me  into  the  gaol?" 
said  Anna,  in  the  gentlest  voice  imaginable. 

"  In  a  minute,  my  dear  —  I  call  you  my  dear,  because  I  like 
you;  for  I  never  use  what  Gott  calls  l high  flown.'  There  is 
Mr.  John  Wilmeter,  now,  as  handsome  and  agreeable  a  youth 
as  ever  came  to  Biberry.  He  comes  here  two  or  three  times  a 
day,  and  sits  and  talks  with  me  in  the  most  agreeable  way,  until 
I  've  got  to  like  him  better  than  any  young  man  of  my  acquaint- 
ance.  He  talks  of  you,  quite  half  the  time ;  and  when  he  is  not 
talking  of  you,  he  is  thinking  of  you,  as  I  know  by  the  way  he 
gazes  at  this  very  door." 

"  Perhaps  his  thoughts  are  on  Mary  Monson,"  answered  Anna, 
blushing  scarlet.  "  You  know  she  is  a  sort  of  client  of  his,  and 
he  has  been  here  in  her  service,  for  a  good  while." 

"She  hardly  ever  saw  him;  scarcely  ever,  except  at  this 
grate.  His  foot  never  crossed  this  threshold,  until  his  uncle 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  431 

came;  and  since,  I  believe  he  has  gone  in  but  once.  Mary 
Monson  is  not  the  being  he  worships." 

"  I  trust  he  worships  the  Being  we  all  worship,  Mrs.  Gott," 
struggling  gently  to  turn  the  key,  and  succeeding.  "  It  is  not 
for  us  poor  frail  beings  to  talk  of  being  worshipped." 

"  Or  of  worshipping,  as  I  tell  Gott/'  said  the  sheriff's  wife, 
permitting  her  companion  to  depart. 

Anna  found  Mary  Monson  and  Sarah  walking  together  in  the 
gallery,  conversing  earnestly. 

"  It  is  singular  that  nothing  reaches  us  from  Michael  Milling- 
ton  !"  exclaimed  the  last,  as  Anna  interlocked  arms  with  her, 
and  joined  the  party.  "It  is  now  near  eight-and-forty  hours 
since  my  uncle  sent  him  to  town/' 

"  On  my  business  ?"  demanded  Mary  Monson,  quickly. 

"  Certainly;  on  no  other  —  though  what  it  was  that  took  him 
away  so  suddenly,  I  have  not  been  told.  I  trust  you  will  be 
able  to  overturn  all  that  these  Burtons  have  said,  and  to  repair 
the  mischief  they  have  done?" 

"  Fear  nothing  for  me,  Miss  Wilmeter,"  answered  the  pri 
soner,  with  singular  steadiness  of  manner  —  "I  tell  you,  as  I 
have  often  told  your  friend,  I  must  be  acquitted.  Let  justice 
take  its  course,  say  I,  and  the  guilty  be  punished.  I  have  a  clue 
to  the  whole  story,  as  I  believe,  and  must  make  provision  for  to 
morrow.  Do  you  two,  dear,  warm-hearted  friends  as  you.,  are, 
now  leave  me ;  and  when  you  reach  the  inn,  send  Mr.  Dunscomb 
hither,  as  soon  as  possible.  Not  that  Timms ;  but  noble,  honest, 
upright  Mr.  Dunscomb.  Kiss  me,  each  of  you,  and  so  good 
night.  Think  of  me  in  your  prayers.  I  am  a  great  sinner,  and 
have  need  of  your  prayers." 

The  wishes  of  Mary  Monson  were  obeyed,  and  the  young  la 
dies  left  the  gaol  for  the  night.  Ten  minutes  later  Dunscomb 
reached  the  place,  and  was  admitted.  His  conference  with  hia 
client  was  long,  intensely  interesting,  and  it  quite  unsettled  the 


432  THE  WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

notions  he  had  now,  for  some  time,  entertained  of  her  guilt.  She 
did  not  communicate  any  thing  concerning  her  past  life,  nor  did 
she  make  any  promises  on  that  subject;  but  she  did  communi 
cate  facts  of  great  importance,  as  connected  with  the  result  of  her 
trial.  Dunscomb  left  •  her,  at  a  late  hour,  with  views  entirety 
changed,  hopes  revived,  and  his  resolution  stimulated.  He  made 
ample  entries  in  his  brief;  nor  did  he  lay  his  head  on  his  pillow 
until  it  was  very  late. 

The  little  court-house  bell  rang  as  usual,  next  morning,  and 
judge,  jurors,  witnesses,  lawyers,  and  the  curious  in  general,  col 
lected  as  before,  without  any  ceremony,  though  in  decent  quiet. 
The  case  was  now  getting  to  be  so  serious,  that  all  approached  it 
as  truly  a  matter  of  life  and  death ;  even  the  reporters  submitting 
to  an  impulse  of  humanity,  and  viewing  the  whole  affair  less  in 
a  business  point  of  view,  than  as  one  which  might  carry  a  singu 
larly  gifted  woman  into  the  other  world.  The  first  act  of  the 
day  opened  by  putting  Mrs.  Burton  on  the  stand,  for  her  cross- 
examination.  As  every  intelligent  person  present  understood 
that  on  her  testimony  depended  the  main  result,  the  fall  of  a  pin 
might  almost  have  been  heard,  so  profound  was  the  general  wish 
to  catch  what  was  going  on.  The  witness,  however,  appeared  to 
be  calm,  while  the  advocate  was  pale  and  anxious.  He  had  the 
air  of  one  who  had  slept  little  the  past  night.  He  arranged  his 
papers  with  studied  care,  made  each  movement  deliberately,  com 
pressed  his  lips,  and  seemed  to  be  bringing  his  thoughts  into 
such  a  state  of  order  and  distinctness  that  each  might  be  resorted 
to  as  it  was  needful.  In  point  of  fact,  Dunscomb  foresaw  that 
a  human  life  depended  very  much  on  the  result  of  this  cross-ex 
amination,  and  like  a  conscientious  man,  he  was  disposed  to  do 
his  whole  duty.  No  wonder,  then,  that  he  paused  to  reflect,  was 
deliberate  in  his  acts,  and  concentrated  in  feeling. 

"  We  will  first  give  our  attention  to  this  piece  of  gold,  Mrs. 
Burton/'  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner  mildly  commenced,  mo- 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  433 

fcioning  to  the  coroner,  who  was  in  court,  to  show  the  witness  the 
piece  of  money  so  often  examined.  u  Are  you  quite  certain  that 
it  is  the  very  coin  that  you  saw  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Good 
win?" 

"  Absolutely  certain,  sir.  As  certain  as  I  am  of  anything  in 
the  world." 

"  Mrs.  Burton,  I  wish  you  to  remember  that  the  life  of  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  will,  most  probably,  be  affected  by  your  testi 
mony.  Be  kind  enough,  then,  to  be  very  guarded  and  close  in 
your  answers.  Do  you  still  say  that  this  is  the  precise  coin  that 
you  once  saw  in  Mrs.  Goodwin's  stocking?" 

The  witness  seemed  suddenly  struck  with  the  manner  of  the 
advocate.  She  trembled  from  head  to  foot.  Still,  Dunscomb 
spoke  mildly,  kindly  even ;  and  the  idea  conveyed  in  the  present, 
was  but  a  repetition  of  that  conveyed  in  the  former  question. 
Nevertheless,  those  secret  agencies,  by  means  of  which  thought 
meets  thought,  unknown  to  all  but  their  possessors ;  that  set  in 
motion,  as  it  might  be,  all  the  covert  currents  of  the  mind,  caus 
ing  them  to  flow  towards  similar  streams  in  the  mind  of  another, 
were  now  at  work,  and  Dunscomb  and  the  witness  had  a  clue  to 
each  other's  meaning  that  entirely  escaped  the  observation  of  all 
around  them.  There  is  nothing  novel  in  this  state  of  secret  in 
telligence.  It  doubtless  depends  on  a  mutual  consciousness,  and 
a  common  knowledge  of  certain  material  facts,  the  latter  being 
applied  by  the  former,  with  promptitude  and  tact.  Notwith 
standing  her  sudden  alarm,  and  the  change  it  brought  over  her 
entire  manner,  Mrs.  Burton  answered  the  question  as  before; 
what  was  more,  she  answered  it  truly.  The  piece  of  gold  found 
in  Mary  Monson's  purse,  and  now  in  possession  of  the  coroner, 
who  had  kept  it  carefully,  in  order  to  identify  it,  had  been  in 
Dorothy  Goodwin's  stocking. 

"  Quite  certain,  sir.  I  know  that  to  be  the  same  piece  of 
money  that  I  saw,  at  different  times,  in  Mrs.  Goodwin's  stocking.*' 

19 


434  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  Did  you  ever  have  that  gold  coin  in  your  own  hand,  Mm 
Burton,  previously  to  this  trial  ?  " 

This  was  a  very  natural  and  simple  interrogatory ;  one  that 
might  be,  and  probably  was,  anticipated ;  yet  it  gave  the  witness 
uneasiness,  more  from  the  manner  of  Dunscomb,  perhaps,  than 
from  anything  in  the  nature  of  the  inquiry  itself.  The  answer, 
however,  was  given  promptly,  and,  as  before,  with  perfect 
truth. 

"  On  several  occasions,  sir.  I  saw  that  notch,  and  talked  with 
Mrs.  Goodwin  about  it,  more  than  once." 

"  What  was  the  substance  of  Mrs.  Goodwin's  remarks,  in  rela 
tion  to  that  notch?" 

"  She  asked  me,  one  time,  if  I  thought  it  lessened  the  weight 
of  the  coin ;  and  if  so,  how  much  I  thought  it  might  take  away 
from  its  value?" 

"What  was  your  answer?" 

"  I  believe  I  said  I  did  not  think  it  could  make  any  great  dif 
ference." 

"  Did  Mrs.  Goodwin  ever  tell  you  how,  or  where,  she  got  that 
piece  of  money?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  she  did.  She  told  me  it  came  from  Mary  Mon- 
son." 

"In  pay  for  board;  or,  for  what  purpose  did  it  pass  from  one 
to  the  other?" 

This,  too,  was  a  very  simple  question,  but  the  witness  no  longer 
answered  promptly.  The  reader  will  remember  that  Mary  Mon- 
son  had  said,  before  the  coroner,  that  she  had  two  of  these  coins, 
and  that  she  had  given  one  of  them  to  the  poor  unfortunate  de 
ceased,  and  had  left  the  other  in  her  own  purse.  This  answer 
had  injured  the  cause  of  the  accused,  inasmuch  as  it  was  very 
easy  to  tell  such  a  tale,  while  few  in  Biberry  were  disposed  to 
believe  that  gold  passed  thus  freely,  and  without  any  considera 
tion,  from  hand  to  hand.  Mrs.  Burton  remembered  all  this, 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  435 

and,  for  a  reason  best  known  to  herself,  she  shrunk  a  little  from 
making  the  required  reply.  Still  she  did  answer  this  question 
also,  and  answered  it  truly. 

"  I  understood  aunt  Dolly  to  say  that  Mary  Monson  made  her 
a  present  of  that  piece  of  money." 

Here  Timms  elevated  his  nose,  and  looked  around  him  in  a 
meaning  manner,  that  appealed  to  the  audience  to  know  if  his 
client  were  not  a  person  of  veracity.  Sooth  to  say,  this  answer 
made  a  strong  impression  in  favour  of  the  accused,  and  Duns- 
comb  saw  with  satisfaction  that,  in-so-much,  he  had  materially 
gained  ground.  He  was  not  a  man  to  gain  it,  however,  by  dra 
matic  airs ;  he  merely  paused  for  a  few  moments,  in  order  to  give 
full  effect  to  this  advantage. 

"Mrs.  Goodwin,  then,  owned  to  you  that  she  had  the  coin 
from  Mary  Monson,  and  that  it  was  a  present?"  was  the  next 
question. 

"She  did,  sir/' 

"  Did  she  say  anything  about  Mary  Monson's  having  another 
piece  of  money,  like  the  one  before  you,  and  which  was  given  by 
her  to  Dorothy  Goodwin  ?" 

A  long  pause  succeeded.  The  witness  raised  a  hand  to  her 
brow,  and  appeared  to  meditate.  Her  reputation  for  taciturnity 
and  gravity  of  deportment  was  such,  that  most  of  those  in  court 
believed  she  was  endeavouring  to  recollect  the  past,  in  order  to 
say  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  truth.  In  point  of  fact,  she 
was  weighing  well  the  effect  of  her  words,  for  she  was  a  person 
of  extreme  caution,  and  of  great  reputed  probity  of  character. 
The  reply  came  at  length  — 

"She  did  speak  on  the  subject,"  she  said,  "and  did  state 
something  of  the  kind." 

"Can  you  recollect  her  words  —  if  so,  give  them  to  the  jury 
—  if  not  her  very  words,  their  substance." 

"  Aunt  Dolly  had  a  way  of  her  own  in  talking,  which  inakea 


436  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

it  very  difficult  to  repeat  her  precise  words;  but  she  said,  in  sub* 
stance,  that  Mary  Monson  had  two  of  these  pieces  of  money,  one 
of  which  was  given  to  her." 

"  Mary  Monson,  then,  kept  the  other  ?" 

"So  I  understood  it,  sir." 

"Have  you  any  knowledge  yourself,  on  this  subject?  —  If  so, 
state  it  to  the  jury/' 

Another  pause,  one  even  longer  than  before,  and  again  the 
hand  was  raised  to  the  brow.  The  witness  now  spoke  with  ex 
treme  caution,  seeming  to  feel  her  way  among  the  facts,  as  a  cat 
steals  on  its  prey. 

"I  believe  I  have  —  a  little  —  some  —  I  have  seen  Mary 
Monson's  purse,  and  I  believe  I  saw  apiece  of  money  in  it  which 
resembled  this." 

"Are  you  not  certain  of  the  fact?" 

"Perhaps  I  am." 

Here  Dunscomb's  face  was  lighted  with  a  smile ;  he  evidently 
was  encouraged. 

"  Were  you  present,  Mrs.  Burton,  when  Mary  Monson's  purse 
was  examined,  in  presence  of  the  inquest  ?" 

"I  was." 

"Did  you  then  see  its  contents?" 

"I  did"  — after  the  longest  pause  of  all. 

"  Had  you  that  purse  in  your  hand,  ma'am  ?" 

The  brow  was  once  more  shaded,  and  the  recollection  seem 
ingly  taxed. 

"  I  think  I  had.  It  was  passed  round  among  us,  and  I  believe 
that  I  touched  it,  as  well  as  others." 

"  Are  you  not  certain  that  you  did  so  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir.  Now,  I  reflect,  I  know  that  I  did.  The  piece  of 
money  found  in  Mary  Monson's  purse,  was  passed  from  one  tc 
another,  and  to  me,  among  the  rest." 

"This  was  very  wrong,"  observed  his  honour. 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  437 

"  It  was  wrong,  sir ;  but  not  half  as  wrong  as  the  murders 
and  arson,"  coolly  remarked  Williams. 

"  Go  on,  gentlemen  —  time  is  precious." 

"  Now,  Mrs.  Burton,  I  wish  to  ask  you  a  very  particular  ques 
tion,  and  I  beg  that  your  answer  may  be  distinct  and  guarded  — 
did  you  ever  have  access  to  the  piece  of  gold  found,  or  said  to  be 
found,  in  Mary  Monson's  purse,  except  on  the  occasion  of  the 
inquest  ?  " 

The  longest  pause  of  all,  and  the  deepest  shading  of  the  brow. 
So  long  was  the  self-deliberation  this  time,  as  to  excite  a  little 
remark  among  the  spectators.  Still,  it  was  no  more  than  prudent 
to  be  cautious,  in  a  cause  of  so  much  importance. 

"I  certainly  have,  sir/'  was  the  reply  that  came  at  last.  "I 
saw  it  in  Dorothy  Goodwin's  stocking,  several  times ;  had  it  in 
my  hand,  and  examined  it.  This  is  the  way  I  came  to  discover 
the  notch.  Aunt  Dolly  and  I  talked  about  that  notch,  as  I 
have  already  told  the  court." 

"  Quite  true,  ma'am,  we  remember  that ;  all  your  answers  are 
carefully  written  out — " 

"  I  'm  sure  nothing  that  I  have  said  can  be  written  out,  which 
is  not  true,  sir." 

"  We  are  to  suppose  that.  And  now,  ma'am,  permit  me  to 
ask  if  you  ever  saw  that  piece  of  money  at  any  other  time  than 
at  those  you  have  mentioned.  Be  particular  in  the  answer." 

"I  may/'  after  a  long  pause. 

"Do  you  not  know?" 

"I  do  not,  sir." 

"  Will  you  say,  on  your  oath,  that  you  cannot  recollect  any 
one  occasion,  other  than  those  you  have  mentioned,  on  which  you 
have  seen  and  handled  that  piece  of  money  ?" 

"  When  aunt  Dolly  showed  it  to  me,  before  the  coroner,  and 
here  in  court.  I  recollect  no  other  time." 

"  Let  me  put  this  question  to  you  again,  Mrs.  Burton — recall- 


438  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

ing  the  solemnity  of  the  oath  you  have  taken  —  have  you,  o* 
have  you  not,  seen  that  piece  of  money  on  any  other  occasion 
than  those  you  have  just  mentioned  ?" 

"  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  seen  it  at  any  other  time," 
answered  the  woman,  firmly. 

Mary  Monson  gave  a  little  start,  and  Dunscomb  appeared  dis 
appointed.  Timms  bit  his  lip,  and  looked  anxiously  at  the  jury, 
while  Williams  once  more  cocked  his  nose,  and  looked  around 
him  in  triumph.  If  the  witness  spoke  the  truth,  she  was  now 
likely  to  adhere  to  it;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  really 
any  ground  for  Dunscomb's  question,  the  witness  had  passed  the 
Rubicon,  and  would  adhere  to  her  falsehood  even  more  tena 
ciously  than  she  would  adhere  to  the  truth.  The  remainder  of 
this  cross-examination  was  of  very  little  importance.  Nothing 
further  was  obtained  from  the  witness  that  went  to  shake  her 
testimony. 

Our  limits  will  not  permit  a  detailed  account  of  all  the  evi 
dence  that  was  given  in  behalf  of  the  prosecution.  All  that  ap 
peared  before  the  inquest  was  now  introduced,  methodized  and 
arranged  by  Williams;  processes  that  rendered  it  much  more 
respectable  than  it  had  originally  appeared  to  be.  At  length  it 
came  to  the  turn  of  the  defence  to  open.  This  was  a  task  that 
Dunscomb  took  on  himself,  Timms,  in  his  judgment,  being  un 
equal  to  it.  His  opening  was  very  effective,  in  the  way  of  argu 
ment,  though  necessarily  not  conclusive,  the  case  not  making  in 
favour  of  his  client. 

The  public  expected  important  revelations  as  to  the  past  his 
tory  of  the  prisoner,  and  of  this  Timms  had  apprised  Dunscomb. 
The  latter,  however,  was  not  prepared  to  make  them.  Mary 
Monson  maintained  all  her  reserve,  and  Millington  did  not  re 
turn.  The  cause  was  now  so  far  advanced  as  to  render  it  im 
probable  that  any  facts,  of  this  nature,  could  be  obtained  in  suffi 
cient  season  to  be  used,  and  the  counsel  saw  the  necessity  of 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  439 

giving  a  new  turn  to  this  particular  point  in  the  case.  He  con 
sequently  complained  that  the  prosecution  had  neglected  to  show 
anything  in  the  past  life  of  the  accused  to  render  it  probable  she 
had  been  guilty  of  the  offences  with  which  she  was  charged. 
"  Mary  Monson  appears  here/'  he  went  on  to  say,  "with  a  cha 
racter  as  fair  as  that  of  any  other  female  in  the  community.  This 
is  the  presumption  of  law,  and  you  will  truly  regard  her,  gentle 
men,  as  one  that  is  innocent  until  she  is  proved  to  be  guilty." 
The  inference  drawn  from  the  silence  of  the  prosecution  was  not 
strictly  logical,  perhaps ;  but  Dunscomb  managed  at  least  to  mys 
tify  the  matter  in  such  a  way  as  to  prepare  the  jury  to  hear  a 
defence  that  would  be  silent  on  this  head,  and  to  leave  a  doubt 
whether  this  silence  were  not  solely  the  fault  of  the  counsel  for 
the  prosecution.  While  he  was  commenting  on  this  branch  of 
the  subject,  Williams  took  notes  furiously,  and  Tinims  foresaw 
that  he  meant  to  turn  the  tables  on  them,  at  the  proper  moment. 

Pretty  much  as  a  matter  of  course,  Dunscomb  was  compelled 
to  tell  the  court  and  jury  that  the  defence  relied  principally  on 
the  insufficiency  of  the  evidence  of  the  other  side.  This  was 
altogether  circumstantial ;  and  the  circumstances,  as  he  hoped  to 
be  able  to  convince  the  jury,  were  of  a  nature  that  admitted  of 
more  than  one  construction.  Whenever  this  was  the  case,  it  wag 
the  duty  of  the  jury  to  give  the  accused  the  full  benefit  of  these 
doubts.  The  rest  of  the  opening  had  the  usual  character  of  ap 
peals  to  the  sympathy  and  justice  of  the  jury,  very  prudently 
and  properly  put. 

Dr.  McBrain  was  now  placed  upon  the  stand,  when  the  custo 
mary  questions  were  asked,  to  show  that  he  was  a  witness  entitled 
to  the  respect  of  the  court.  He  was  then  further  interrogated, 
as  follows: — 

"  Have  you  seen  the  two  skeletons  that  are  now  in  court,  and 
which  are  said  to  have  been  taken  from  the  ruins  of  the  house 
of  the  Goodwins?" 


440  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  I  have.  I  saw  them  before  the  inquest ;  and  I  have  agam 
examined  them  here,  in  court," 

"What  do  you  say,  as  to  their  sex?" 

"  I  believe  them  both  to  be  the  skeletons  of  females." 

"  Do  you  feel  certain  of  this  fact  ?" 

"  Reasonably  so,  but  not  absolutely.  No  one  can  pronounce 
with  perfect  certainty  in  such  a  case ;  more  especially  when  the 
remains  are  in  the  state  in  which  these  have  been  found.  We 
are  guided  principally  by  the  comparative  size  of  the  bones ;  and,. 
as  these  are  affected  by  the  age  of  the  subject,  it  is  hazardous  to 
be  positive.  I  can  only  say  that  I  think  both  of  these  skeletons 
belonged  to  female  subjects;  particularly  the  shortest." 

"  Have  you  measured  the  skeletons  ?" 

"  I  have,  and  find  one  rather  more  than  an  inch  and  a  half 
shorter  than  the  other.  The  longest  measures  quite  five  feet 
seven  and  a  half,  in  the  state  in  which  it  is ;  while  the  shortest 
measures  a  trifle  less  than  five  feet  six.  If  women,  both  were 
of  unusual  stature ;  particularly  the  first.  I  think  that  the  bones 
of  both  indicate  that  they  belonged  to  females;  and  I  should 
have  thought  the  same  had  I  known  nothing  of  the  reports  which 
have  reached  my  ears  touching  the  persons  whose  remains  these 
are  said  to  be." 

"  When  you  first  formed  your  opinion  of  the  sex  of  those  to 
whom  these  remains  belonged,  had  you  heard  that  there  was  a 
German  woman  staying  in  the  house  of  the  Goodwins  at  the 
time  of  the  fire?" 

"  I  think  not ;  though  I  have  taken  so  little  heed  of  these 
rumours  as  to  be  uncertain  when  I  first  heard  this  circumstance. 
I  do  remember,  however,  that  I  was  under  the  impression  the 
remains  were,  beyond  a  doubt,  those  of  Peter  Goodwin  and  his 
wife,  when  I  commenced  the  examination  of  them;  and  I  very 
distinctly  recollect  the  surprise  I  felt  when  the  conviction  crossed 
my  mind  that  both  were  the  skeletons  of  women*  From  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.       441 

nature  of  this  feeling,  I  rather  think  I  could  not  have  heard  any 
thing  of  the  German  female  at  that  time." 

The  cross-examination  of  Dr  McBrain  was  very  long  and 
searching ;  but  it  did  not  materially  affect  the  substance  of  his 
testimony.  On  the  contrary,  it  rather  strengthened  it ;  since  he 
had  it  in  his  power  to  explain  himself  more  fully  under  the  inter 
rogatories  of  Williams,  than  he  could  do  in  an  examination  in 
chief.  Still,  he  could  go  no  farther  than  give  his  strong  belief; 
declining  to  pronounce  positively  on  the  sex  of  either  individual, 
in  the  state  in  which  the  remains  were  found. 

Although  nothing  positive  was  obtained  from  this  testimony, 
the  minds  of  the  jurors  were  pointedly  directed  to  the  circum 
stance  of  the  sudden  and  unexplained  disappearance  of  the  Ger 
man  woman;  thus  making  an  opening  for  the  admission  of  a 
serious  doubt  connected  with  the  fate  of  that  person. 

It  was  a  sad  thing  to  reflect  that,  beyond  this  testimony  of 
McBrain,  there  was  little  other  direct  evidence  to  offer  in  behalf 
of  the  accused.  It  is  true,  the  insufficiency  of  that  which  had 
been  produced  by  the  prosecution  might  avail  her  much ;  and  on 
this  Dunscomb  saw  that  his  hopes  of  an  acquittal  must  depend ; 
but  he  could  not  refrain  from  regretting,  and  that  bitterly,  that 
the  unmoved  resolution  of  his  client  not  to  let  her  past  life  be 
known,  must  so  much  weaken  his  case,  were  she  innocent,  and 
so  much  fortify  that  of  the  prosecution,  under  the  contrary  sup 
position.  Another  physician  or  two  were  examined  to  sustain 
McBrain ;  but,  after  all,  the  condition  of  the  remains  was  such 
as  to  render  any  testimony  questionable.  One  witness  went  so 
far  as  to  say,  it  is  true,  that  he  thought  he  could  distinguish 
certain  unerring  signs  of  the  sex  in  the  length  of  the  loweJ 
limbs,  and  in  other  similar  proof;  but  even  McBrain  was  forced 
to  admit  that  such  distinctions  were  very  vague  and  unsatisfactory. 
His  own  opinion  was  formed  more  from  the  size  of  the  bones, 
generally,  than  from  any  other  proof.  In  general,  there  waa 

19* 


442  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

little  difficulty  in  speaking  of  the  sex  of  the  subject,  when  the 
skeleton  was  entire  and  well  preserved,  and  particularly  when 
the  teeth  furnished  some  clue  to  the  age ;  but,  in  this  particular 
case,  as  has  already  been  stated,  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as 
absolute  certainty. 

It  was  with  a  heavy  heart,  and  with  many  an  anxious  glance 
cast  towards  the  door,  in  the  hope  of  seeing  Michael  Millington 
enter,  that  Dunscomb  admitted  the  prisoner  had  no  further  testi 
mony  to  offer.  He  had  spun  out  the  little  he  did  possess,  in 
order  to  give  it  an  appearance  of  importance  which  it  did  not 
actually  bring  with  it,  and  to  divert  the  minds  of  the  jurors  from 
the  impression  they  had  probably  obtained,  of  the  remains  neces 
sarily  being  those  of  Goodwin  and  his  wife. 

The  summing  up  on  both  sides  was  a  grave  and  solemn  scene. 
Here  Williams  was  thrown  out,  the  District  Attorney  choosing 
to  perform  his  own  duty  on  an  occasion  so  serious.  Dunscomb 
made  a  noble  appeal  to  the  justice  of  the  court  and  jury ;  admo 
nishing  both  of  the  danger  of  yielding  too  easily  to  circumstantial 
evidence.  It  was  the  best  possible  proof,  he  admitted,  when  tha 
circumstances  were  sufficiently  clear  and  sufficiently  shown  to  be 
themselves  beyond  controversy.  That  Mary  Monson  dwelt  with 
the  Goodwins,  was  in  the  house  at  the  time  of  the  arson  and 
murder,  if  such  crimes  *ere  ever  committed  at  all;  that  she 
escaped  and  all  her  property  was  saved,  would  of  themselves 
amount  to  nothing.  The  testimony,  indeed,  on  several  of  these 
heads,  rather  told  in  her  favour  than  the  reverse.  The  witnesses 
for  the  prosecution  proved  that  she  was  in  her  room,  beneath  the 
roof,  when  the  flames  broke  out,  and  was  saved  with  difficulty. 
This  was  a  most  material  fact,  and  Dunscomb  turned  it  to  good 
account.  "Would  an  incendiary  be  apt  to  place  herself  in  a  situa 
tion  in  which  her  own  life  was  in  danger;  and  this,  too,  under 
circumstances  that  rendered  no  such  measure  necessary  ?  Then, 
all  the  facts  connected  with  Mary  Monson's  residence  and  habits 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  443 

told  in  her  favour.  Why  should  she  remain  so  long  at  the  cottage, 
if  robbery  was  her  only  purpose  ?  The  idea  of  her  belonging  to 
a  gang  that  had  sent  her  to  make  discoveries  and  to  execute  its 
plans,  was  preposterous ;  for  what  hindered  any  of  the  men  of 
that  gang  from  committing  the  crimes  in  the  most  direct  manner, 
and  with  the  least  loss  of  time?  No;  if  Mary  Monson  were 
guilty,  she  was  undoubtedly  guilty  on  her  own  account ;  and  had 
been  acting  with  the  uncertain  aim  and  hand  of  a  woman.  The 
jury  must  discard  all  notions  of  accomplices,  and  consider  the 
testimony  solely  in  connection  with  the  acts  of  the  accused. 
Accomplices,  and  those  of  the  nature  supposed,  would  have 
greatly  simplified  the  whole  of  the  wretched  transaction.  They 
would  have  rendered  both  the  murders  and  arson  unnecessary. 
The  bold  and  strong  do  not  commit  these  crimes,  except  in  those 
cases  in  which  resistance  renders  them  necessary.  Here  was 
clearly  no  resistance,  as  was  shown  by  the  quiet  positions  in  which 
the  skeletons  had  been  found.  If  a  murder  was  directly  com 
mitted,  it  must  -have  been  by  the  blow  on  the  heads ;  and  the 
jury  was  asked  to  consider  whether  a  delicate  female  like  Mary 
Monson  had  even  the  physical  force  necessary  to  strike  such  a 
blow.  With  what  instrument  was  it  done  ?  Nothing  of  the  sort 
was  found  near  the  bodies ;  and  no  proof  of  any  such  blow  was 
before  the  jury.  One  witness  had  said  that  the  iron-work  of  a 
plough  lay  quite  near  the  remains ;  and  it  had  been  shown  that 
Peter  Goodwin  kept  such  articles  in  a  loft  over  his  bed-room. 
He  would  suggest  the  possibility  of  the  fire's  having  commenced 
in  that  loft,  through  which  the  pipe  of  a  cooking-stove  led ;  of 
its  having  consumed  the  beams  of  the  floor ;  letting  down  this 
plough  and  share  upon  the  heads  of  the  sleeping  couple  below, 
stunning,  if  not  killing  them;  thus  leaving  them  unresisting 
subjects  to  the  action  of  the  element.  McBrain  had  been 
examined  on  this  point,  which  we  omitted  to  state  in  its  place,  to 
prevent  repetition.  He,  and  the  two  other  doctors  brought  for- 


444  1HE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

ward  for  the  defence,  had  tried  to  plaee  the  ploughshare  on  tlu 
skulls;  and  were  of  opinion  that  the  injuries  might  have  been 
inflicted  by  that  piece  of  iron.  But  Mary  Monson  could  not  use 
such  an  instrument.  This  was  beyond  all  dispute.  If  the  plough 
share  inflicted  the  blow — and  the  testimony  on  this  point  was  at 
least  entitled  to  respect — then  was  Mary  Monson  innocent  of  any 
murder  committed  by  direct  means.  It  is  true,  she  was  respon 
sible  for  all  her  acts ;  and  if  she  set  fire  to  the  building,  she  was 
probably  guilty  of  murder  as  well  as  of  arson.  But  would  she 
have  done  this,  and  made  no  provision  for  her  own  escape  ?  The 
evidence  was  clear  that  she  was  rescued  by  means  of  a  ladder,, 
and  through  a  window ;  and  that  there  were  no  other  means  of 
escape." 

Dunscomb  reasoned  on  these  several  points  with  great  force 
and  ingenuity.  So  clear  were  his  statements,  so  logical  his  infer 
ences,  and  so  candid  his  mode  of  arguing,  that  he  had  produced  a 
great  effect  ere  he  closed  this  branch  of  his  subject.  It  is  true, 
that  one  far  more  difficult  remained  to  be  met ;  to  answer  which 
he  now  set  about  with  fear  and  trembling. 

We  allude  to  the  piece  of  money  alleged  to  have  been  found 
in  Mary  Monson's  purse.  Dunscomb  had  very  little  difficulty  in 
disposing  of  the  flippant  widow  Pope;  but  the  Burton  family 
gave  him  more  trouble.  Nevertheless,  it  was  his  duty  to  endea 
vour  to  get  rid  of  them,  or  at  least  so  far  to  weaken  their  testi 
mony  as  to  give  his  client  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  There  was, 
in  truth,  but  one  mode  of  doing  this.  It  was  to  impress  on  the 
jury  the  probability  that  the  coin  had  been  changed  in  passing 
from  hand  to  hand.  It  is  true,  it  was  not  easy  to  suggest  any 
plausible  reason  why  such  an  act  of  treachery  should  have  been 
committed ;  but  it  was  a  good  legal  point  to  show  that  this  piece 
of  money  had  not,  at  all  times,  been  absolutely  under  the  eye  or 
within  the  control  of  the  coroner.  If  there  were  a  possibility  of 
a  change,  the  fact  should  and  ought  to  tell  in  favour  of  his  client 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  445 

Mrs.  Burton  had  made  admissions  on  this  point  which  entitled 
the  prisoner  to  press  the  facts  on  the  minds  of  the  jurors ;  and 
her  counsel  did  not  fail  so  to  do,  with  clearness  and  energy. 
After  all,  this  was  much  the  most  difficult  point  of  the  case ;  and 
it  would  not  admit  of  a  perfectly  satisfactory  solution. 

The  conclusion  of  Dunscomb's  summing  up  was  manly,  touch 
ing,  even  eloquent.  He  spoke  of  a  lone  and  defenceless  female, 
surrounded  by  strangers,  being  dragged  to  the  bar  on  charges  of 
such  gravity;  pointed  to  his  client  where  she  sat  enthralled  by 
his  language,  with  all  the  signs  of  polished  refinement  on  her 
dress,  person,  and  manners;  delicate,  feminine,  and  beautiful; 
and  asked  if  any  one,  who  had  the  soul  and  feelings  of  a  man, 
could  believe  that  such  a  being  had  committed  the  crimes  im 
puted  to  Mary  Monson. 

The  appeal  was  powerful,  and  was  dwelt  on  just  long  enough 
to  give  it  full  and  fair  effect.  It  left  the  bench,  the  bar,  the  jury- 
box,  the  whole  audience  in  fact,  in  tears.  The  prisoner  alone 
kept  an  unmoistened  eye ;  but  it  was  in  a  face  flushed  with  feel 
ing.  Her  self-command  was  almost  supernatural. 


CHAPTER  XXVH. 

"  I  '11  brave  her  to  her  face  : 
I'll  give  my  anger  its  free  course  against  her. 
Thou  shalt  see,  Phoenix,  how  I'll  break  her  pride." 

The  Distressed  Mother, 

THE  District  Attorney  was  fully  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  the  duty  that  had  now  devolved  on  him.  Although  we  have 
daily  proofs  on  all  sides  of  us,  of  the  truth  of  that  remark  of 
Bacon's,  "  that  no  man  rises  to  eminence  in  the  State  without  a 
mixture  of  great  and  mean  qualities,"  this  favourite  of  the  peo 
ple  had  his  good  points  as  well  as  another.  He  was  a  humane 
man ;  and,  contrary  to  the  expectations,  and  greatly  to  the  disap 
pointment  of  Williams,  he  now  took  on  himself  the  office  of 
summing  up. 

The  public  functionary  commenced  in  a  mild,  quiet  manner, 
manifesting  by  the  key  on  which  he  pitched  his  voice  a  natural 
reluctance  to  his  painful  duty ;  but  he  was  steady  and  collected. 
He  opened  with  a  brief  summary  of  the  facts.  A  strange  female, 
of  high  personal  pretensions,  had  taken  lodgings  in  an  humble 
dwelling.  That  dwelling  contained  a  considerable  sum  of  money. 
Some  counted  it  by  thousands ;  all  by  hundreds.  In  either  case, 
it  was  a  temptation  to  the  covetous  and  ill-disposed.  The  lodgings 
were  unsuited  to  the  habits  of  the  guest;  but  she  endured  them 
for  several  weeks.  A  fire  occurred,  and  the  house  was  consumed. 
The  remains  of  the  husband  and  wife  were  found,  as  the  jury 
saw  them,  with  marks  of  violence  on  their  skulls.  A  deadly 

(446) 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  447 

blow  had  been  struck  by  some  one.  The  bureau  containing  the 
money  was  found  locked,  but  the  money  itself  was  missing.  One 
piece  of  that  money  was  known,  and  it  was  traced  to  the  purse 
of  the  female  lodger.  This  stranger  was  arrested ;  and,  in  her 
mode  of  living  in  the  gaol,  in  her  expenditures  of  every  sort, 
she  exhibited  the  habits  and  profusion  of  one  possessed  of  consi 
derable  sums.  Doubtless  many  of  the  reports  in  circulation  were 
false;  exaggerations  ever  accompanied  each  statement  of  any 
unusual  occurrence ;  but  enough  was  proved  to  show  that  Mary 
Monson  had  a  considerable  amount  of  money  at  command. 
Whence  came  these  funds  ?  That  which  was  lightly  obtained 
went  lightly.  The  jury  were  exhorted  to  reject  every  influence 
but  that  which  was  sustained  by  the  evidence.  All  that  had  been 
here  stated  rested  on  uncontradicted,  unresisted  testimony. 

There  was  no  desire  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  defence.  This 
defence  had  been  ingeniously  and  powerfully  presented ;  and  to 
what  did  it  amount.  The  direct,  unequivocal  evidence  of  Mrs. 
Burton,  as  to  her  knowledge  of  the  piece  of  money,  and  all  that 
related  to  it,  and  this  evidence  sustained  by  so  much  that  was 
known  to  others,  the  coroner  included,  was  met  by  a  conjecture  ! 
This  conjecture  was  accompanied  by  an  insinuation  that  some 
might  suppose  reflected  on  the  principal  witness ;  but  it  was  only 
an  insinuation.  There  were  two  legal  modes  of  attacking  the 
credibility  of  a  witness.  One  was  by  showing  habitual  menda 
city  ;  the  other  by  demonstrating  from  the  evidence  itself,  that 
the  testimony  could  not  be  true.  Had  either  been  done  in  the 
present  instance?  The  District  Attorney  thought  not.  One, 
and  this  the  most  common  course,  had  not  even  been  attempted. 
Insinuations,  rather  than  just  deductions,  he  was  compelled  to 
say,  notwithstanding  his  high  respect  for  the  learned  counsel 
opposed  to  him,  had  been  the  course  adopted.  That  counsel  had 
contended  that  the  circumstances  were  not  sufficient  to  justify  a 
verdict  of  guilty.  Of  this,  the  jury  were  the  sole  judges.  If 


448  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

they  believed  Mrs.  Burton,  sustained  as  she  was  by  so  much  othei 
testimony,  they  must  admit  that  Dorothy  Goodwin's  money  was 
found  in  Mary  Monson' s  purse.  This  was  the  turning  point  of 
the  case.  All  depended  on  the  construction  of  this  one  fact. 
He  left  it  to  the  jury,  to  their  good  sense,  to  their  con 
sciences. 

On  the  part  of  the  defence,  great  stress  had  been  laid  on  the 
circumstance  that  Mary  Monson  was  herself  rescued  from  the 
flames  with  some  difficulty.  But  for  assistance,  she  would  most 
•probably  have  perished.  The  District  Attorney  desired  to  deny 
nothing  that  could  justly  go  to  prove  the  prisoner's  innocence. 
The  fact  was  unquestionably  as  stated.  But  for  assistance,  Mary 
Monson  might  have  perished.  But  assistance  was  not  wanting ; 
for  strangers  were  most  opportunely  at  hand,  and  they  did  this 
piece  of  good  service.  They  remained  until  all  was  over,  and 
vanished.  No  one  knew  them ;  whence  they  came,  or  whither 
they  went.  Important  agents  in  saving  a  life,  they  had  gone 
without  their  reward,  and  were  not  even  named  in  the  newspaper 
accounts  of  the  occurrence.  Reporters  generally  tell  more  than 
happens ;  in  this  instance,  they  were  mute. 

As  for  the  danger  of  the  prisoner,  it  might  have  happened  in  a 
variety  of  ways  that  affected  neither  her  guilt  nor  her  innocence. 
After  committing  the  murders,  she  may  have  gone  into  her  room 
and  been  unexpectedly  enclosed  by  the  flames;  or  the  whole  may 
have  been  previously  planned,  in  order  to  give  her  the  plea  of 
this  very  dangerous  situation,  as  a  proof  of  innocence.  Such 
immaterial  circumstances  were  not  to  overshadow  the  very  mate 
rial  facts  on  which  the  prosecution  rested. 

Another  important  question  was  to  be  asked  by  the  jury.  If 
Mary  Monson  did  not  commit  these  crimes,  who  did  ?  It  had 
been  suggested  that  the  house  might  have  taken  fire  by  accident, 
and  that  the  ploughshare  was  the  real  cause  of  the  death  of  its 
owners.  If  this  were  so,  did  the  ploughshare  remove  the  money  ? 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  449 

—  did  the  ploughshare  put  the  notched  piece  in  Mary  Monson's 
purse? 

Such  is  an  outline  of  the  manner  in  which  the  District  Attor 
ney  reasoned  on  the  facts.  His  summing  up  made  a  deep  im 
pression  j  the  moderation  of  the  manner  in  which  he  pressed  the 
guilt  of  the  accused,  telling  strongly  against  her.  Nothing  was 
said  of  aristocracy,  or  harps,  or  manners,  or  of  anything  else  that 
did  not  fairly  belong  to  the  subject.  A  great  deal  more  was  said, 
of  course ;  but  we  do  not  conceive  it  necessary  to  advert  to  it. 

The  charge  was  exceedingly  impartial.  The  judge  made  a  full 
exposition  of  all  the  testimony,  pointed  out  its  legitimate  bearing, 
and  dissected  its  weak  points.  As  for  the  opinion  of  McBrain 
and  his  associates,  the  court  conceived  it  entitled  to  a  great  deal 
of  consideration.  Here  were  several  highly  respectable  professional 
men  testifying  that,  in  their  judgment,  both  the  skeletons  were 
those  of  females.  The  German  woman  was  missing.  What  had 
become  of  her  ?  In  any  case,  the  disappearance  of  that  woman 
was  very  important.  She  may  have  committed  the  crimes,  and 
absconded ;  or  one  of  the  skeletons  may  have  been  hers.  It  was 
in  evidence  that  Peter  Goodwin  and  his  wife  did  not  live  always 
in  the  most  happy  mood ;  and  he  may  have  laid  hands  on  the 
money,  which  was  probably  his  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  and  left 
the  place.  He  had  not  been  seen  since  the  fire.  The  jury  must 
take  all  the  facts  into  their  consideration,  and  decide  according 
to  their  consciences. 

This  charge  was  deemed  rather  favourable  to  the  accused  than 
otherwise.  The  humanity  of  the  judge  was  conspicuous  through 
out  ;  and  he  leaned  quite  obviously  to  Dunscomb's  manner  of 
treating  the  danger  of  Mary  Monson  from  the  flames,  and  dwelt 
on  the  fact  that  the  piece  of  money  was  not  sufficiently  watched 
to  make  out  an  absolute  case  of  identity.  When  he  had  done, 
the  impression  was  very  general  that  the  prisoner  would  be  ac 
quitted. 


450  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

As  it  was  reasonably  supposed  that  a  case  of  this  importance 
would  detain  the  jury  a  considerable  time,  the  court  permitted 
the  prisoner  to  withdraw.  She  left  the  place,  attended  by  her 
two  friends;  the  latter  in  tears,  while  Mary  herself  was  still 
seemingly  unmoved.  The  thoughtful  Mrs.  Gott  had  prepared 
refreshments  for  her ;  and,  for  the  first  time  since  her  trial  com 
menced,  the  fair  prisoner  ate  heartily. 

"  I  shall  owe  my  triumph,  not  to  money,  my  dear  girls,"  she 
said,  while  at  table,  "  not  to  friends,  nor  to  a  great  array  of  coun 
sel  ;  but  to  truth.  I  did  not  commit  these  crimes ;  and  on  the 
testimony  of  the  State  alone,  with  scarcely  any  of  my  own,  the 
jury  will  have  to  say  as  much.  No  stain  will  rest  on  my  charac 
ter,  and  I  can  meet  my  friends  with  the  unclouded  brow  of  inno 
cence.  This  is  a  very  precious  moment  to  me ;  I  would  not  part 
with  it  for  all  the  honours  that  riches  and  rank  can  bestow." 

"  How  strange  that  you,  of  all  women,  my  dear  mamma,"  said 
Anna,  kissing  her  cheek,  "  should  be  accused  of  crimes  so  horri 
ble  to  obtain  a  little  money ;  for  this  poor  Mrs.  Goodwin  could 
have  had  no  great  sum  after  all,  and  you  are  so  rich  !" 

"  More  is  the  pity  that  I  have  not  made  a  better  use  of  my 
money.  You  are  to  be  envied,  girls,  in  having  the  fortunes  of 
gentlewomen,  and  in  having  no  more.  I  do  believe  it  is  better 
for  our  sex  barely  to  be  independent  in  their  respective  stations, 
and  not  to  be  rendered  rich.  Man  or  woman,  money  is  a  danger 
ous  thing,  when  we  come  to  consider  it  as  a  part  of  our  natural 
existence ;  for  it  tempts  us  to  fancy  that  money's  worth  gives 
rights  that  nature  and  reason  both  deny.  I  believe  I  should 
have  been  much  happier,  were  I  much  poorer  than  I  am." 

"  But  those  who  are  rich  are  not  very  likely  to  rob  I" 

"  Certainly  not,  in  the  sense  that  you  mean,  my  dear.  Send 
Marie  Moulin  on  some  errand,  Anna ;  I  wish  to  tell  you  and 
Sarah  what  I  think  of  this  fire,  and  of  the  deaths  for  which  I 
am  now  on  trial." 


THE  WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  451 

Anna  complied ;  and  the  handsome  prisoner,  first  looking  cau 
tiously  around  to  make  certain  she  was  not  overheard,  proceeded 
with  her  opinion. 

"  In  the  first  place,  I  make  no  doubt  Dr.  McBrain  is  right, 
and  that  both  the  skeletons  are  those  of  women.  The  German 
woman  got  to  be  very  intimate  with  Mrs.  Goodwin ;  and  as  the 
latter  and  her  husband  quarrelled  daily,  and  fiercely,  I  think  it 
probable  that  she  took  this  woman  into  her  bed,  where  they 
perished  together.  I  should  think  the  fire  purely  accidental, 
were  it  not  for  the  missing  stocking." 

"  That  is  just  what  the  District  Attorney  said,"  cried  Anna, 
innocently.  "  Who,  then,  can  have  set  the  house  on  fire  ?" 

Mary  Monson  muttered  to  herself;  and  she  smiled  as  if  some 
queer  fancies  crowded  her  brain;  but  no  one  was  the  wiser 
for  her  ruminations.  These  she  kept  to  herself,  and  con 
tinued. 

"  Yes,  that  missing  stocking  renders  the  arson  probable.  The 
question  is,  who  did  the  deed;  I,  or  Mrs.  Burton?" 

"  Mrs.  Burton  I"  exclaimed  both  the  girls  in  a  breath.  "  Why, 
her  character  is  excellent — no  one  has  ever  suspected  her  !  You 
cannot  suppose  that  she  is  the  guilty  person !" 

"It  is  she,  or  it  is  I;  which,  I  will  leave  you  to  judge.  I 
was  aware  that  the  notch  was  in  the  coin  ;  for  I  was  about  to 
give  the  other  piece  to  Mrs.  Goodwin,  but  preferred  to  keep  the 
perfect  specimen  myself.  The  notched  piece  must  have  been  in 
the  stocking  until  after  the  fire ;  and  it  was  changed  by  some 
one  while  my  purse  was  under  examination." 

"And  you  suppose  that  Mrs.  Burton  did  it?" 

"  I  confess  to  a  suspicion  to  that  effect.  Who  else  could  or 
would  have  done  it?  I  have  mentioned  this  distrust  to  Mr. 
Dunscomb,  and  he  cross-examined  in  reference  to  this  fact ;  though 
nothing  very  satisfactory  was  extracted.  After  my  acquittal,  steps 
will  be  taken  to  push  the  inquiry  further." 


452  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

Mary  Monson  continued  discussing  this  subject  for  quite  an 
hour ;  her  wondering  companions  putting  questions.  At  the  end 
of  that  time,  Mr.  Gott  appeared  to  say  that  the  jury  had  come 
into  court ;  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  take  the  prisoner  there 
to  meet  them. 

Perhaps  Mary  Monson  never  looked  more  lovely  than  at  that 
moment.  She  had  dressed  herself  with  great  simplicity,  but 
with  exceeding  care;  excitement  gave  her  the  richest  colour; 
hope,  even  delight,  was  glowing  in  her  eyes ;  and  her  whole  form 
was  expanding  with  the  sentiment  of  triumph.  There  is  no  feel 
ing  more  general  than  sympathy  with  success.  After  the  judge's 
charge,  few  doubted  of  the  result;  and  on  every  side,  as  she 
walked  with  a  light  firm  step  to  her  chair,  the  prisoner  read  kind 
ness,  sympathy,  and  exultation.  After  all  that  had  been  said, 
and  all  the  prejudices  that  had  been  awakened,  Mary  Monson 
was  about  to  be  acquitted !  Even  the  reporters  became  a  little 
humanized ;  had  juster  perceptions  than  common  of  the  rights 
of  their  fellow-creatures ;  and  a  more  smiling,  benignant  assem 
bly  was  never  collected  in  that  hall.  In  a  few  minutes,  silence 
was  obtained,  and  the  jurors  were  called.  Every  man  answered 
to  his  name,  when  the  profound  stillness  of  expectation  pervaded 
the  place. 

"  Stand  up,  Mary  Monson,  and  listen  to  the  verdict,"  said  the 
clerk,  not  without  a  little  tremor  in  his  voice.  "  Gentlemen, 
what  do  you  say  —  is  the  prisoner  guilty  or  not  guilty  ?" 

The  foreman  arose,  stroked  down  a  few  scattering  grey  hairs, 
then,  in  a  voice  barely  audible,  he  pronounced  the  portentous 
word  "  guilty."  Had  a  bomb  suddenly  exploded  in  the  room,  it 
could  not  have  produced  greater  astonishment,  and  scarcely  more 
consternation.  Anna  Updyke  darted  forward,  and,  as  with  a 
single  bound,  Mary  Monson  was  folded  in  her  arms. 

"  No,  no  !"  cried  this  warm-hearted  girl,  totally  unconscious 
of  the  impropriety  of  her  acts ;  "  she  is  not  guilty.  You  do  not 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  453 

know  her.  I  do.  She  was  my  school  mamma.  She  is  a  lady, 
incapable  of  being  guilty  of  such  crimes.  No,  no,  gentlemen, 
you  will  think  better  of  this,  and  alter  your  verdict  —  perhaps  it 
was  a  mistake,  and  you  meant  to  say,  '  not  guilty !' '' 

"  Who  is  this  young  lady  ?"  asked  the  judge,  in  a  tremulous 
voice  —  "a  relative  of  the  prisoner's ?" 

"No,  sir,"  answered  the  excited  girl,  u  no  relative,  but  a  very 
close  friend.  She  was  my  '  school  mamma'  once,  and  I  know 
she  is  not  a  person  to  rob,  and  murder,  and  set  fire  to  houses. 
Her  birth,  education,  character,  all  place  her  above  it.  You  will 
think  better  of  this,  gentlemen,  and  change  your  verdict.  Now, 
go  at  once  and  do  it,  or  you  may  distress  her !" 

"  Does  any  one  know  who  this  young  lady  is  ?"  demanded  his 
honour,  his  voice  growing  more  and  more  tremulous. 

"I  am  Anna  Updyke  —  Dr.  McBrain's  daughter,  now,  and 
uncle  Tom's  niece,"  answered  Anna,  scarce  knowing  what  she 
said.  "  But  never  mind  me  —  it  is  Mary  Monson,  here,  who  has 
been  tried,  and  who  has  so  wrongfully  been  found  guilty.  She 
never  committed  these  crimes,  I  tell  you,  sir  —  is  incapable  of 
committing  them  —  had  no  motive  for  committing  them ;  and  I 
beg  you  will  put  a  stop  to  these  proceedings,  before  they  get  so 
far  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  recede.  Just  tell  the  jury  to  alter 
their  verdict.  No,  no,  Mary  Monson  is  no  murderess !  She 
would  no  more  hurt  the  Goodwins,  or  touch  a  particle  of  their 
gold,  than  either  of  us  all.  You  do  not  know  her,  sir.  If  you 
did,  you  would  smile  at  this  mistake  of  the  jury,  for  it  is  all  a 
cruel  mistake.  Now  do,  my  dear  sir,  send  them  away,  again, 
and  tell  them  to  be  more  reasonable." 

"  The  young  lady  had  better  be  removed/'  interposed  the 
judge,  wiping  his  eyes.  "  Such  scenes  may  be  natural,  and  the 
court  looks  on  them  leniently ;  but  time  is  precious,  and  my  duty 
renders  it  necessary  to  interpose  my  authority  to  maintain  the 
order  of  our  proceedings.  Let  some  of  the  ladies  remove  tho 


454  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

young  lady ;  she  is  too  delicate  for  the  touch  of  a  constable  — 
but  time  is  precious." 

The  judge  was  not  precisely  conscious,  himself,  of  what  he 
was  saying,  though  he  knew  the  general  drift  of  his  remarks. 
The  process  of  blowing  his  nose  interrupted  his  speech,  more 
than  once,  and  Anna  was  removed  by  the  assistance  of  Marie 
Moulin,  Sarah  Wilmeter,  and  good  Mrs.  Gott;  the  latter  sobbing 
like  a  child,  while  the  other  two  scarce  realized  the  consequences 
of  the  momentous  word  that  had  just  been  pronounced.  Duns- 
comb  took  care  that  the  whole  group  should  quit  the  building, 
and  be  removed  to  the  tavern. 

If  the  bar,  and  the  spectators  in  general,  had  been  surprised 
at  the  calmness  of  exterior  maintained  by  the  prisoner,  previously 
to  the  verdict,  their  wonder  was  sensibly  increased  by  the  manner 
which  succeeded  it.  Mary  Monson's  beauty  shone  with  increas 
ing  radiance  as  the  justice  of  her  country  seemed  to  threaten  her 
existence  more  and  more ;  and  at  the  particular  moment  when 
ghe  was  left  alone,  by  the  withdrawal  of  her  female  companions, 
many  present  fancied  that  she  had  increased  in  stature.  Cer 
tainly,  it  was  a  rare  sight  to  observe  the  illuminated  countenance, 
the  erect  mien,  and  the  offended  air,  with  which  one  of  the 
weaker  sex,  and  one  so  youthful  and  charming,  met  a  doom  so 
terrible.  Of  the  jury,  she  took  no  notice.  Her  eye  was  on  the 
judge,  who  was  endeavouring  to  muster  sufficient  fortitude  to 
pronounce  the  final  decision  of  the  law. 

"  Before  the  court  pronounces  sentence,  Mr.  Dunscomb,"  ob 
served  that  functionary,  "  it  will  cheerfully  hear  anything  you 
may  have  to  offer  in  behalf  of  the  prisoner,  or  it  will  hear  the 
prisoner  herself.  It  is  better,  on  every  account,  that  all  my 
painful  duties  be  discharged  at  once,  in  order  that  the  prisoner 
may  turn  her  attention  to  the  only  two  sources  of  mercy  that 
now  remain  open  to  her  —  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly.  My 
duty,  as  you  well  know,  cannot  now  be  avoided ;  and  the  soonei 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  456 

it  is  performed,  perhaps,  the  better  for  all  concerned.  It  shall 
be  my  care  to  see  that  the  condemned  has  time  to  make  all  her 
appeals,  let  them  be  to  the  authorities  here,  or  to  the  more 
dreaded  power  above. 

"  I  am  taken  so  much  by  surprise,  your  honour,  at  a  verdict 
that,  to  say  the  least,  is  given  on  very  doubtful  testimony,  that  I 
hardly  know  what  to  urge.  As  the  court,  however,  is  disposed 
to  indulgence,  and  there  will  be  time  to  look  at  the  law  of  the 
case,  as  well  as  to  address  our  petitions  and  affidavits  to  the  au 
thority  at  Albany,  I  shall  interpose  no  objection;  and,  as  your 
honour  well  remarks,  since  the  painful  duty  must  be  discharged, 
it  were  better,  perhaps,  that  it  were  discharged  now." 

"  Prisoner  at  the  bar,"  resumed  the  judge,  "  you  have  heard 
the  finding  of  the  jury,  in  your  case.  A  verdict  of  <  guilty'  has 
been  rendered,  and  it  has  become  my  painful  duty  to  pronounce 
the  awful  sentence  of  the  law.  If  you  have  anything  to  say  pre 
viously  to  this,  the  last  and  most  painful  of  all  my  duties,  the 
court  will  give  your  words  a  kind  and  lenient  hearing." 

In  the  midst  of  a  stillness  that  seemed  supernatural,  the  sweet, 
melodious  voice  of  Mary  Monson  was  heard,  "  first  gentle,  almost 
inaudible,"  but  gathering  strength  as  she  proceeded,  until  it  be 
came  clear,  distinct,  and  silvery.  There  are  few  things  that  im 
part  a  higher  charm  than  the  voice ;  and  the  extraordinary  pri 
soner  possessed  an  organ  which,  while  it  was  feminine  and  sweet, 
had  a  depth  and  richness  that  at  once  denoted  her  power  in  song 
On  the  present  occasion,  it  was  not  even  tremulous. 

"  I  believe  I  understand  you,  sir/'  Mary  Monson  commenced 
"  I  have  been  tried  and  found  guilty  of  having  murdered  Peter 
and  Dorothy  Goodwin,  after  having  robbed  them,  and  then  of 
setting  fire  to  the  house." 

"  You  have  been  tried  for  the  murder  of  Peter  Goodwin,  only, 
the  indictments  for  the  second  murder,  and  for  the  arson,  not 
having  yet  been  tried.  The  court  has  been  obliged  to  separate 


4l>6  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

the  cases,  lest  the  law  be  defeated  on  mere  technicalities.  This 
verdict  renders  further  proceedings  unnecessary,  and  the  two  re 
maining  indictments  will  probably  never  be  traversed." 

"  I  believe  I  still  understand  you,  sir ;  and  I  thank  you  sin 
cerely  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you  have  communicated 
these  facts,  as  well  as  for  the  consideration  and  gentleness  you 
have  manifested  throughout  these  proceedings.  It  has  been  very 
kind  in  you,  sir ;  and  whatever  may  come  of  this,  God  will  re 
member  and  reward  you  for  it." 

"  The  court  will  hear  you,  Mary  Monson,  if  you  have  anything 
to  say,  before  sentence  be  passed." 

"  Perhaps  I  might  say  and  do  much  to  affect  your  decision, 
sir,"  returned  the  prisoner,  leaning  her  fair  brow,  for  a  moment, 
on  her  hand,  "  but  there  would  be  little  satisfaction  in  it.  It 
was  my  wish  to  be  acquitted  on  the  testimony  of  the  State.  I 
did  hope  that  this  jury  would  not  have  seen  the  proofs  of  guilt, 
in  the  evidence  that  has  been  brought  against  me ;  and  I  confess 
there  would  be  very  little  satisfaction  to  me  in  any  other  acquit 
tal.  As  I  understand  the  case,  should  I  be  acquitted  as  respects 
Peter  Goodwin,  I  must  still  be  tried  as  respects  his  wife ;  and 
lastly,  for  setting  fire  to  the  house." 

"  You  are  not  acquitted  of  the  murder  of  Peter  Goodwin," 
mildly  interposed  the  judge ;  "  the  finding  of  the  court  has  been 
just  to  the  contrary." 

"  I  am  aware  of  this,  sir.  America  has  many  enemies.  I 
have  lived  in  foreign  lands,  and  know  this  from  near  and  long 
observation.  There  are  those,  and  those,  too,  who  are  in  power, 
that  would  gladly  see  the  great  example  in  prosperity,  peace  and 
order,  that  this  country  has  hitherto  given  to  the  world,  beaten 
down  by  our  own  vices,  and  the  mistaken  uses  to  which  the  peo 
ple  put  the  blessings  of  Divine  Providence.  I  do  not  reverence 
the  justice  of  my  country,  as  I  did :  it  is  impossible  that  I  should 
do  so.  I  now  see  plainly  that  its  agents  are  not  all  of  the  ch»- 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  457 

racter  they  should  be;  and  that,  so  far  from  Justice's  being 
blind  through  her  impartiality  alone,  she  is  also  blind  through 
her  ignorance.  Why  am  I  found  guilty  of  this  act  ?  On  what 
evidence  —  or  even  on  what  probability?  The  whole  of  the 
proof  is  connected  with  that  piece  of  money.  Mrs.  Burton  has 
testified  that  Mrs.  Groodwin,  herself,  admitted  that  I  had  given 
her  that  coin — just  what  I  told  the  coroner,  and  which  I  then 
saw  was  not  believed,  for  it  has  been  my  misfortune  to  be  tried 
by  strangers.  Will  these  gentlemen  ask  themselves  why  I  have 
committed  the  crime  of  which  they  have  found  me  guilty  ?  It 
could  not  be  for  money ;  as  of  that  I  have,  of  my  own,  more  than 
I  want,  more,  perhaps,  than  it  is  good  for  me  to  be  mistress  of." 

"  Why  have  not  these  facts  been  shown  to  the  jury,  at  the 
proper  time  and^m  the  proper  manner,  if  true  ?"  demanded  the 
judge,  kindly.  "  They  are  material,  and  might  have  influenced 
the  verdict." 

The  jury  was  discharged,  but  not  one  of  them  all  had  left  the 
borx.  One  or  two  of  them  now  arose,  and  looks  of  doubt  and 
indecision  began  to  flicker  over  their  countenances.  They  had 
been  influenced  by  one  man,  a  friend  and  political  confidant  of 
Williams,  who  had  led  the  undecided  to  his  own  opinions.  We 
do  not  mean  to  say  that  this  man  was  perjured,  or  that  he  was 
himself  conscious  of  the  extent  of  the  wrong  he  was  doing ;  but 
his  mind  had  been  perverted  by  the  serpent-like  report,  and  he 
had  tried  the  cause  under  the  influence  of  rumours,  which  had 
no  foundation  in  truth.  The  case  was  one  of  honest  doubt,  as 
no  one  will  deny ;  but  instead  of  giving  the  accused  the  benefit 
of  this  doubt,  as  by  law  and  in  reason  he  was  bound  to  do,  he  had 
taken  a  bias  altogether  from  outside  influences,  and  that  bias  he 
communicated  to  others,  until  by  the  sheer  force  of  numbers,  the 
few  who  wavered  were  driven  into  a  corner,  and  soon  capitulated. 
Then,  there  was  a  morbid  satisfaction  in  the  minds  of  several  of 
the  jurors,  in  running  counter  to  the  charge  of  the  judge.  This 

20 


458  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

was  a  species  of  independence  that  is  grateful  to  some  men,  and 
they  are  guided  by  their  vanity,  when  they  fancy  they  are  only 
led  by  conscience.  These  malign  influences  were  unknown  to 
themselves;  for  not  one  of  the  twelve  was  absolutely  corrupt,  but 
neither  of  them  all  was  qualified  by  nature,  or  education,  to  be  a 
judge,  freed  from  the  influence  of  the  bench,  in  a  case  affecting 
a  human  life. 

Any  one  in  the  least  observant  of  what  is  going  on  around 
him,  must  have  had  many  opportunities  of  perceiving  how 
strangely  juries  render  their  verdicts,  and  how  much  the  last  ap 
pear  to  be  opposed  to  the  inferences  of  the  looker-on,  as  well  as 
to  the  expressed  opinions  of  the  courts.  The  falling  off  in  the 
power  of  the  judges  over  the  minds  of  the  jurors,  we  suppose  to 
be  derived  from  a  combination  of  causes.  The  tendency  of  the 
times  is  to  make  men  confident  in  their  own  judgments,  and  to 
defer  less  than  formerly  to  knowledge  and  experience.  Seeing 
this  very  general  trait,  the  judges  themselves  defer  to  the  ten 
dency,  manifest  less  confidence  in  their  station  and  knowledge, 
and  perhaps  really  feel  it ;  while  the  unceasing  cry  of  the  infalli 
bility  of  the  common  mind,  induces  the  vulgar,  or  average  intel 
lect,  to  shrink  from  any  collision  with  that  which  wears  the  sem 
blance,  even  though  simulated,  of  the  popular  will.  In  this  way 
is  the  institution  of  the  jury  gradually  getting  to  be  perverted, 
rendering  that  which  is  safe  as  an  human  tribunal  can  well  be, 
when  under  the  guidance  of  the  court,  as  dangerous  as  ignorance, 
party,  self-will  and  obstinacy  can  well  make  it. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  resumed  Mary  Monson,  "  that  one  is  yet 
obliged,  in  America,  to  lay  open  her  account-books,  and  show 
her  rent-roll,  or  her  bonds  and  mortgages,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
gallows.  I  have  been  told  that  crime  must  be  brought  home  by 
unanswerable  proof,  in  order  to  convict.  Who  can  say  that  such 
proof  has  been  adduced  in  my  case  ?  It  has  not  even  been  made 
certain  that  a  man  was  killed,  at  all.  Most  respectable  witnesses 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  459 

have  testified  that  they  believe  those  revolting  remains  of  poor 
humanity,  belonged  once  to  women.  Nor  has  it  been  shown 
that  any  one  has  been  murdered.  The  fire  may  have  been  acci 
dental,  the  deaths  a  simple  consequence  of  the  fire,  and  no  one 
guilty." 

"  You  forget,  Mary  Monson,"  interposed  the  judge,  mildly, 
"  that  the  robbery,  and  the  piece  of  money  found  in  your  purse, 
give  a  colour  to  the  supposition  of  crime.  The  jury  have  doubt 
less  been  influenced  by  these  facts,  and  important  facts  they  are. 
No  one  can  deny  this ;  and  I  think  you  overlook  that  feature  of 
your  case.  If,  however,  your  counsel  has  any  good  reason  to 
offer  why  sentence  should  not  now  be  pronounced,  the  court  will 
hear  it.  There  is  no  impatience  on  the  part  of  justice,  which 
would  much  rather  draw  in  than  stretch  forth  its  arm.  Perhaps, 
Mary  Monson,  you  might  do  well  to  leave  to  your  counsel  the 
objections  you  wish  to  urge,  and  let  •  them  be  presented  to  us  in 
a  form  that  we  can  recognise." 

"I  see  no  great  use  in  deferring  the  sentence,"  Dunscomb 
remarked,  quietly  enough  for  the  circumstances.  "  It  must  be 
pronounced ;  and  any  question  of  law,  should  one  occur  to  my 
mind,  though  I  confess  none  does  at  present,  can  as  well  ba 
raised  after  this  ceremony  as  before." 

u  I  am  disposed  to  wait,  if  a  good  reason  can  be  urged  for  the 
delay.  I  will  acknowledge  that  the  case  is  one  involved  in  a 
great  deal  of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  and  am  much  inclined  to  do 
all  the  law  will  sanction.  Still,  I  leave  you  to  decide  on  your 
own  course." 

"In  my  judgment,  may  it  please  your  honour,  we  shall  have 
to  go  to  the  executive,  and  it  were,  perhaps,  better  to  get  all  the 
most  revolting  parts  of  the  case  over,  while  the  accused — " 

"  Convicted,  Mr.  Dunscomb  —  it  is  a  distinction  painful  to 
make,  but  one  that  cannot  now  be  avoided/' 

"  I  beg  pardon  of  the  court  —  convicted/' 


460  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"Yes/'  said  Mary  Monson,  solemnly,  "I  am  convicted,  and 
of  the  revolting  crime  of  murder.    All  my  hopes  of  a  triumphant 
acquittal  are  blasted ;  and,  whatever  may  be  the  termination  of 
this  extraordinary  affair,  a  dark  spot  will  always  rest  on  my  name. 
Sir,  I  am  as  innocent  of  this  crime  as  the  youngest  child  in  your 
county.     I  may  have  been  wilful,  perverse,  ill-judging,  unwise, 
and  have  a  hundred  other  failings ;  but  neither  Peter  nor  Doro 
thy  G-oodwin  did  I  ever  harm.    I  had  not  been  long  in  the  house 
before  I  discovered  that  the  old  couple  were  not  happy  together. 
They  quarrelled  often,  and  bitterly.     The  wife  was  managing, 
dictatorial,  and  sordidly  covetous,  while  he  used  every  shilling 
he  could  obtain,  for  the  purchase  of  liquors.     His  mind  was  af 
fected  by  his  debauches,  and  he  drivelled.     In  this  state,  he 
came  to  me  for  sympathy  and  advice.     There  were  passages  in 
my  own  past  life,  short  as  it  has  been,  which  disposed  me  to  feel 
for  one  who  was  not  happy  in  the  married  state.    It  is  no  matter 
what  my  own  experience  has  been ;  I  had  sympathy  for  that 
poor  man.     So  far  from  wishing  to  do  him  harm,  I  desired  to  do 
him  good.     I  advised  him  to  quit  the  house,  and  live  apart  from 
his  wife,  for  a  time,  at  least  j  and  this  he  consented  to  do,  if  I 
would  furnish  him  with  the  means.     Those  means  I  promised ; 
and,  that  he  might  not  suffer,  being  of  only  feeble  intellect,  and 
in  order  to  keep  him  from  liquor,  I  had  directed  two  of  my  agents 
to  come  to  the  house  early  in  the  morning  of  the  very  day  that 
the  fire  happened,   that  they  might  convey  Peter  Goodwin  to 
another  residence,  where  he  would  be  secret  and  safe,  until  his 
wife  might  repent  of  her  treatment  of  him.    It  was  fortunate  for 
me  that  I  had  done  this.     Those  two  men,  servants  of  my  own, 
in  the  dress  of  countrymen,  were  the  instruments  of  saving  my 
life;  without  their  aid,  I  should  have  perished  in  the  flames. 
What  they  did,  and  how  they  did  it,  it  would  be  premature  now 
to  say.     Alas  !  alas !  I  have  not  been  acquitted  as  I  desired  to 
be,  and  a  dark  shadow  will  for  ever  rest  on  my  name  I" 


THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  461 

For  the  first  time,  a  doubt  of  the  sanity  of  the  prisoner,  crossed 
the  mind  of  the  judge.  It  was  not  so  much  the  incoherence  of 
her  language,  as  her  eye,  the  flushed  cheek,  and  a  certain  air  of 
stealthy  cunning,  that  awakened  this  distrust.  Nevertheless, 
Mary  Monson's  manner  was  sincere,  her  language  chosen  and 
perfectly  proper,  and  her  explanations  not  without  their  force. 
There  was  something  so  strange,  however,  in  a  portion  of  her 
statements ;  so  irreconcileable  with  a  sound  discretion,  that,  taken 
with  the  little  which  had  come  to  light  concerning  this  singular 
woman's  past  life,  the  doubt  arose. 

"  Perhaps  it  were  better,  Mr.  District  Attorney,"  the  judge 
observed,  "  if  we  delay  the  sentence." 

"  As  your  honour  may  think  fit.  The  state  is  not  over-anxious 
for  life." 

"What  say  you,  Mr.  Dunscomb  —  shall  there  be  delay,  or 
shall  I  sentence?" 

"  As  the  sentence  must  come,  the  sooner  it  is  over,  the  better 
We  have  no  ground  on  which  to  carry  up  the  case,  the  jury 
being  judges  of  the  facts.  Our  principal  hope  must  be  in  the 
discretion  of  the  governor." 

"  Mary  Monson,"  continued  the  judge,  evidently  treating  the 
affair  as  purely  a  matter  of  form,  "  you  have  been  tried  for  felo 
niously  depriving  Peter  Goodwin  of  his  life — " 

"  I  never  did  it,"  interrupted  the  prisoner,  in  a  voice  so  low 
as  to  be  melodious,  yet  so  clear  as  to  be  audible  as  the  sound  of 
a  clarion.  "  These  men  have  been  influenced  by  the  rumours 
they  have  heard,  and  were  not  fit  to  act  as  my  judges.  Men 
should  have  minds  superior  to  mere  reports,  to  sit  in  that  box." 

"  My  duty  is  to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  the  law.  After  a 
fau;  trial,  and,  so  far  as  it  appears  to  us,  by  an  impartial  jury, 
you  have  been  found  guilty.  For  reasons  that  are  of  sufficient 
weight  to  my  mind,  I  shall  not  dwell  on  the  character  of  the 
awful  change  you  will  have  to  undergo,  should  this  decree  be  put 


463  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

in  force,  but  confine  myself  simply  to  the  duty  of  pronouncing 
the  sentence  of  the  law,  which  is  this :  that  you  be  carried  back 
to  the  gaol,  and  there  be  guarded,  until  Friday,  the  sixth  day  of 
September  next,  when  between  the  hours  of  twelve  and  two, 
P.  M.,  you  be  carried  to  the  place  of  execution,  and  hanged  by 
the  neck,  until  you  are  dead  —  and  God  have  mercy  on  your 
soul!" 

A  shudder  passed  through  the  audience,  at  hearing  language 
like  this  applied  to  a  person  of  Mary  Monson' s  appearance,  edu 
cation  and  sex.  This  feeling  might  have  manifested  itself  more 
strongly,  had  not  Mrs.  Horton  attracted  attention  to  herself,  by 
forcing  her  way  through  the  crowd,  until  she  stood  within  the 
bar.  Here  the  good  woman,  accustomed  to  bandy  words  with 
her  guests,  did  not  scruple  to  make  her  presence  known  to  the 
court,  by  calling  out  — 

"  They  tell  me,  your  honour,  that  Mary  Monson  has  just  been 
found  guilty  of  the  murder  of  Peter  Goodwin  ?" 

"  It  is  so,  my  good  woman  —  but  that  case  is  ended.  Mr 
Sheriff,  remove  the  prisoner  —  time  is  precious — " 

"  Yes,  your  honour,  and  so  is  eternity.  Mary  Monson  is  no 
more  guilty  of  taking  the  life  of  Peter  Goodwin  than  I  am  guilty. 
I  've  always  said  some  great  disgrace  would  befall  our  juries,  one 
of  these  days,  and  now  my  prophecy  will  come  true.  Duke's  ia 
disgraced.  Constable,  let  that  poor  man  come  within  the  bar." 

The  drivelling  creature  who  entered  the  room  of  McBrain 
tottered  forward,  when  twenty  voices  cried  aloud  the  name  of 
"Peter  Goodwin  ! "  Every  word  that  Mary  Monson  had  stated, 
vras  true ! 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

•*  Now,  Marcia,  now  call  up  to  thy  assistance, 
Thy  wonted  strength  and  constancy  of  mind ; 
Thou  can'st  not  put  it  to  a  greater  trial." 

Addison. 

BENCH,  bar,  jury,  witnesses  and  audience,  were  all  astounded. 
The  trial  had  been  carried  on  in  the  most  perfect  good  faith ; 
and  not  a  human  being  but  the  few  who  had  felt  the  force  of 
McBrain's  testimony,  doubted  of  the  death  of  the  individual  who 
now  appeared  alive,  if  not  well,  in  open  court.  The  reader  can 
better  imagine  than  we  can  describe,  the  effects  of  a  resurrection 
so  entirely  unexpected. 

"VVTien  the  confusion  naturally  produced  by  such  a  scene  had 
a  little  subsided;  when  all  had  actually  seen,  and  many  had 
actually  felt,  the  supposed  murdered  man,  as  if  to  assure  them 
selves  of  his  being  really  in  the  flesh,  order  was  restored ;  and 
the  court  and  bar  began  to  reflect  on  the  course  next  to  be  pur 
sued. 

"I  suppose,  Mr.  District  Attorney,"  observed  his  honour, 
"there  is  no  mistake  in  the  person  of  this  individual;  but  it 
were  better  if  we  had  an  affidavit  or  two.  "Will  you  walk  this 

•       «3  99 

way,  sir: 

A  long,  private  conference,  now  took  place  between  the  public 
prosecutor  and  the  judge.  Each  expressed  his  astonishment  at 
the  result,  as  well  as  some  indignation  at  the  deception  which 
had  been  practised  on  the  court.  This  indignation  was  a  little 
mollified  by  the  impression,  now  common  to  both,  that  Mary 

(463) 


464  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

Monson  was  a  person  not  exactly  in  her  right  mind.  There  was 
so  much  deception  practised  among  persons  accused  of  crimes,, 
however,  and  in  connection  with  this  natural  infirmity,  that  public 
functionaries  like  themselves  were  necessarily  very  cautious  in 
admitting  the  plea.  The  most  offensive  part  of  the  whole  affair 
was  the  discredit  brought  on  the  justice  of  Duke's  !  It  was  not 
in  nature  for  these  individuals  to  be  insensible  to  the  sort  of  dis 
grace  the  reappearance  of  Peter  Goodwin  entailed  on  the  county 
and  circuit ;  and  there  was  a  very  natural  desire  to  wipe  off  the 
stain.  The  conference  lasted  until  the  affidavits  to  establish  the 
facts  connected  with  Goodwin's  case  were  ready. 

"  Had  these  affidavits  been  presented  earlier,"  said  his  honourr 
as  soon  as  the  papers  were  read,  "  sentence  would  not  have  been 
pronounced.  The  case  is  novel,  and  I  shall  want  a  little  time  to 
reflect  on  the  course  I  am  to  take.  The  sentence  must  be  gotten- 
rid  of  by  some  means  or  other ;  and  it  shall  be  my  care  to  see  it 
done.  I  hope,  brother  Dunseomb,  the  counsel  for  the  accused 
have  not  been  parties  to  this  deception  ?"" 

"  I  am  as  much  taken  by  surprise  as  your  honour  can  possibly 
be,"  returned  the  party  addressed,  with  earnestness,  "not  having 
had  the  most  remote  suspicion  of  the  existence  of  the  man  said 
to  have  been  murdered ;  else  would  all  the  late  proceedings  have 
been  spared.  As  to  the  course  to  be  taken  next,  I  would  respect 
fully  suggest  that  the  Code  be  examined.  It  is  an  omnium 
gatherum ;  and  must  contain  something  to  tell  us  how  to  undo 
all  we  have  done." 

"  It  were  better  for  all  parties  had  they  so  been.  There  are  still 
two  indictments  pending  over  Mary  Monson ;  one  for  the  arson,, 
and  the  other  for  the  murder  of  Dorothy  Goodwin.  Mr.  District 
Attorney  feels  the  necessity  of  trying  these  cases,  or  one  of  them, 
at  least,  in  vindication  of  the  justice  of  the  State  and  county; 
and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that,  under  all  the  circumstances,  this 
course  should  be  taken.  I  trust  we  shall  have  no  more  surprises. 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        465 

and  that  Dorothy  Goodwin  will  be  brought  forward  at  once,  if 
etill  living  —  time  is  precious." 

"Dorothy  Goodwin  is  dead/'  said  Mary  Monson,  solemnly. 
"  Poor  woman  !  she  was  called  away  suddenly,  and  in  her  sins. 
Little  fear  of  her  ever  coming  here  to  flout  your  justice." 

"  It  may  be  well  to  caution  your  client,  Mr.  Dunscomb,  against 
hasty  and  indiscreet  admissions.  Let  the  accused  be  arraigned, 
and  a  jury  be  empannelled.  Which  case  do  you  choose  to  move 
on,  Mr.  District  Attorney?" 

Dunscomb  saw  that  his  honour  was  offended,  and  much  in 
earnest.  He  was  offended  himself,  and  half  disposed  to  throw 
up  his  brief;  but  he  felt  for  the  situation  of  a  lovely  and  defence 
less  woman.  Then  his  doubts  touching  his  client's  sanity  began 
to  take  the  character  of  certainty;  and  he  saw  how  odious  it 
would  be  to  abandon  one  so  afflicted  in  her  emergency.  He 
hinted  his  suspicion  to  the  court ;  but  was  told  that  the  fact,  under 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  was  one  properly  for  the  jury. 
After  reflection,  the  advocate  determined  not  to  desert  his  trust. 

"We  pass  over  the  preliminary  proceedings.  A  jury  was  em 
pannelled  with  very  little  difficulty ;  not  a  challenge  having  been 
made.  It  was  composed,  in  part,  of  those  who  had  been  in  the 
box  on  the  late  occasion ;  and,  in  part,  of  new  men.  There  was 
an  air  of  earnestness  and  business  about  them  all,  that  Timms  did 
not  like ;  but  it  was  too  late  to  raise  objections.  To  own  the 
truth,  the  senior  counsel  cared  much  less  than  before  for  the 
result;  feeling  satisfied  that  his  contemplated  application  at 
Albany  would  meet  with  consideration.  It  is  true,  Mary  Monson 
was  no  anti-renter.  She  could  not  come  forward  with  her  demand 
for  mercy  with  hands  dyed  in  the  blood  of  an  officer  of  that  public 
"which  lives  under  the  deception  of  fancying  it  rules  the  land; 
murderers  who  added  to  their  crimes  the  hateful  and  pestilent 
fraud  of  attempting  to  cloak  robbery  in  the  garb  of  righteous 
liberty ;  nor  could  she  come  sustained  by  numbers  around  the 

20* 


466  THE    WAYS   OF   THE   HOUR. 

ballot-box,  and  bully  the  executive  into  acts  which  the  reason 
and  conscience  of  every  honest  man  condemn ;  but  Dunscomb 
believed  that  she  might  come  with  the  plea  of  a  being  visited  by 
the  power  of  her  Creator,  in  constituting  her  as  she  was,  a  woman 
not  morally  accountable  for  her  acts. 

All  the  leading  facts,  as  shown  on  the  former  trial,  were  shown 
on  this.  When  the  country  practitioners  were  called  on  to  give 
their  opinions  concerning  the  effect  of  the  blow,  they  necessarily 
became  subject  to  the  cross-examination  of  the  counsel  for  the 
prisoner,  who  did  not  spare  them. 

"  Were  you  examined,  sir,  in  the  late  trial  of  Mary  Hanson, 
for  the  murder  of  Peter  Goodwin  ?"  demanded  Dunscomb  of  the 
first  of  these  modern  Galens  who  was  put  on  the  stand. 

"I  was,  sir." 

"What  did  you  say  on  that  occasion"  — looking  at  his  notes 
of  the  other  trial,  "touching  the  sex  of  the  persons  to  whom 
those  skeletons  were  thought  to  have  belonged  ?" 

"I  said  I  believed  —  not  knew,  but  believed,  they  were  the 
remains  of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin." 

"  Did  you  not  use  stronger  language  than  that  ?" 

"  Not  that  I  remember  —  I  may  have  done  so ;  but  I  do  not 
remember  it." 

"  Did  you  not  say  you  had  <  no  doubt'  that  those  were  the  re 
mains  of  Peter  and  Dorothy  Goodwin?" 

"  I  may  have  said  as  much  as  that.  Now  you  mention  the 
words,  I  believe  I  did." 

"Do  you  think  so  now?" 

"  Certainly  not.     I  cannot  think  so,  after  what  I  have  seen." 

"Do  you  know  Peter  Goodwin,  personally?" 

"  Very  well.  I  have  practised  many  years  in  this  neighbour* 
hood." 

"  Whom,  then,  do  you  say  that  this  unfortunate  man  here, 
whom  we  see  alive,  though  a  driveller,  really  is  V 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  467 

*'  Peter  Goodwin  —  he  who  was  thought  to  have  been  murdered. 
We  are  all  liable  to  mistakes." 

"  You  have  testified  in  chief  that,  in  your  judgment,  the  two 
persons,  of  whom  we  have  the  remains  here  in  court,  were  stunned 
at  least,  if  not  absolutely  killed,  by  the  blow  that  you  think  frac 
tured  each  of  their  skulls.  Now,  I  would  ask  if  you  think  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  possesses  the  physical  force  necessary  to  enable 
her  to  strike  such  a  blow?" 

"  That  would  depend  on  the  instrument  she  used.  A  human 
skull  may  be  fractured  easily  enough,  by  a  moderate  blow  struck 
by  a  heavy  instrument." 

"What  sort  of  instrument,  for  instance?" 

"  A  sword  —  a  bar  of  iron  —  or  anything  that  has  weight  and 
force." 

"Do  you  believe  those  fractures  were  given  by  the  same 
blow  ?" 

"I  do.     By  one  and  the  same  blow." 

"  Do  you  think  Mary  Monson  possesses  the  strength  necessary 
to  cause  those  two  fractures  at  a  single  blow  ?" 

Witness  had  no  opinion  on  the  subject. 

"Are  the  fractures  material?" 

"  Certainly  —  and  must  have  required  a  heavy  blow  to  pro 
duce  them," 

This  was  all.  that  could  be  got  from  either  of  the  witnesses  on 
that  material  point.  As  respected  McBrain,  he  was  subsequently 
examined  in  reference  to  the  same  facts.  Dunscomb  made  good 
use  of  this  witness,  who  now  commanded  the  respect  of  all  pre 
sent.  In  the  first  place,  he  was  adroitly  offered  to  the  jury,  as 
the  professional  man  who  had,  from  the  first,  given  it  as  his 
opinion  that  both  the  skeletons  were  those  of  females ;  and  this 

«•• 

in  the  face  of  all  the  collected  wisdom  of  Duke's  county;  an 
opinion  that  was  now  rendered  so  probable  as  almost  to  amount 
to  certainty.  He  (Dunscomb)  believed  most  firmly  that  the  re- 


468  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

mains  were  those  of  Dorothy  Goodwin  and  the  German  woman 
who  was  missing. 

"  Have  you  examined  those  skeletons,  Dr.  McBrain  ?"  Duns- 
comb  asked. 

"  I  have,  sir;  and  carefully,  since  the  late  trial. " 

"  How  do  you  think  the  persons  to  whom  they  belonged  came 
to  their  deaths?" 

"I  find  fractures  in  the  skulls  of  both.  If  they  lie  now  as 
they  did  when  the  remains  were  found,  (a  fact  that  had  been 
proved  by  several  witnesses,)  I  am  of  opinion  that  a  single  blow 
inflicted  the  injuries  on  both;  it  may  be,  that  blow  was  not  sufli* 
cient  to  produce  death ;  but  it  must  have  produced  a  stupor,  or 
insensibility,  which  would  prevent  the  parties  from  seeking  refuge 
against  the  effects  of  the  flames " 

"  Is  the  learned  witness  brought  here  to  sum  up  the  cause  V* 
demanded  Williams,  with  one  of  those  demoniacal  sneers  of  his,, 
by  means  of  which  he  sometimes  carried  off  a  verdict.  a  I  wish 
to  know,  that  I  may  take  notes  of  the  course  of  his  argument." 

McBrain  drew  back,  shocked  and  offended.  He  was  naturally 
diffident,  as  his  friend  used  to  admit,  in  everything  but  wives ; 
and  as  regarded  them  "he  had  the  impudence  of  the  devil. 
Ned  would  never  give  up  the  trade  until  he  had  married  a  dozen, 
if  the  law  would  see  him  out  in  it.  He  ought  to  have  been  a 
follower  of  'the  great  Mahomet,  who  made  it  a  point  to  take  a 
new  wife  at  almost  every  new  moon  I"  The  judge  did  not  like 
this  sneer  of  Williams ;  and  this  so  much  the  less,  because,  in 
common  with  all  around  him,  he  had  imbibed  a  profound  respect 
for  the  knowledge  of  the  witness.  It  is  true,  he  was  very  much 
afraid  of  the  man,  and  dreaded  his  influence  at  the  polls ;  but  he 
really  had  too  much  conscience  to  submit  to  everything.  A  judge 
may  yet  have  a  conscience — if  the  Code  will  let  him. 

"  This  is  very  irregular,  Mr.  Williams,  not  to  say  improper/' 
his  honour  mildly  remarked.  "  The  witness  has  said  no  mor« 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        469 

than  he  has  a  right  to  say ;  and  the  court  must  see  him  protected. 
Proceed  with  your  testimony,  sir." 

"I  have  little  more  to  say,  if  it  please  the  court/'  resumed 
McBrain,  too  much  dashed  to  regain  his  self-possession  in  a  mo 
ment.  As  this  was  ail  Williams  wanted,  he  permitted  him  to 
proceed  in  his  own  way ;  and  all  the  doctor  had  to  say  was  soon 
told  to  the  jury.  The  counsel  for  the  prosecution  manifested 
great  tact  in  not  cross-examining  the  witness  at  all.  In  a  subse 
quent  stage  of  the  trial,  Williams  had  the  impudence  to  insinuate 
to  the  jury  that  they  did  not  attach  sufficient  importance  to  his 
testimony,  to  subject  him  to  this  very  customary  ordeal. 

But  the  turning  point  of  this  trial,  as  it  had  been  that  of  the 
case  which  preceded  it,  was  the  evidence  connected  with  the  piece 
of  money.  As  the  existence  of  the  notch  was  now  generally 
known,  it  was  easy  enough  to  recognise  the  coin  that  had  been 
found  in  Mary  Monson's  purse ;  thus  depriving  the  accused  of 
one  of  her  simplest  and  best  means  of  demonstrating  the  igno 
rance  of  the  witnesses.  The  notch,  however,  was  Mrs.  Burton's 
great  mark,  under  favour  of  which  her  very  material  testimony 
was  now  given  as  it  had  been  before. 

Dunscomb  was  on  the  point  of  commencing  the  cross-examina 
tion,  when  the  clear  melodious  voice  of  Mary  Monson  herself 
was  heard  for  the  first  time  since  the  commencement  of  the  trial. 

"  Is  it  permitted  to  me  to  question  this  witness  ?"  demanded 
the  prisoner. 

"  Certainly,"  answered  the  judge.  "  It  is  the  right  of  every 
one  who  is  arraigned  by  the  country.  Ask  any  question  that 
you  please." 

This  was  a  somewhat  liberal  decision  as  to  the  right  of  cross- 
examining  j  and  the  accused  put  on  it  a  construction  almost  as 
broad  as  the  privilege.  As  for  the  witness,  it  was  very  apparent 
she  had  little  taste  for  the  scrutiny  that  she  probably  foresaw  she 
was  about  to  undergo;  and  her  countenance,  attitude,  and  an- 


470  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

swers,  each  and  all  betrayed  how  much  distaste  she  had  for  the 
whole  procedure.  As  permission  was  obtained,  however,  the 
prisoner  did  not  hesitate  to  proceed. 

"  Mrs.  Burton,"  said  Mary  Monson,  adopting,  as  well  as  she 
knew  how,  the  manner  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  "  I  wish  you 
to  tell  the  court  and  jury  when  you  first  saw  the  notched  pieca 
of  money?" 

"  When  I  first  saw  it  ?  I  saw  it  first,  when  aunt  Dolly  first 
showed  it  to  me,"  answered  the  witness. 

Most  persons  would  have  been  dissatisfied  with  this  answer, 
and  would  probably  have  caused  the  question  to  be  repeated  in 
some  other  form ;  but  Mary  Monson  seemed  content,  and  went 
on  putting  her  questions,  just  as  if  she  had  obtained  answers  to 
meet  her  views. 

"Did  you  examine  it  well?" 

"As  well  as  I  desired  to.     There  was  nothing  to  prevent  it." 

"  Did  you  know  it  immediately,  on  seeing  it  in  my  purse  ?" 

"  Certainly  —  as  soon  as  I  saw  the  notch." 

"  Did  Mrs.  Goodwin  point  out  the  notch  to  you,  or  did  you 
point  out  the  notch  to  her?" 

"  She  pointed  it  out  to  me ;  she  feared  that  the  notch  might 
lessen  the  value  of  the  coin." 

"  All  this  I  have  heard  before ;  but  I  now  ask  you,  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  in  the  name  of  that  Being  whose  eye  is  everywhere,  did  you 
not  yourself  put  that  piece  of  money  in  my  purse,  when  it  was 
passing  from  hand  to  hand,  and  take  out  of  it  the  piece  without 
a  notch  ?  Answer  me,  as  you  have  a  regard  for  your  soul  ?" 

Such  a  question  was  altogether  out  of  the  rules  regulating  the 
queries  that  may  be  put  to  witnesses,  an  answer  in  the  affirmative 
going  directly  to  criminate  the  respondent;  but  the  earnest  man 
ner,  solemn  tones,  and,  we  may  add,  illuminated  countenance  of 
Mary  Monson,  so  far  imposed  on  the  woman,  that  she  quite  lost 
night  of  her  rights,  if  she  ever  knew  them.  What  is  much  more 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  471 

remarkable,  neither  of  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution  interposed 
an  objection.  The  District  Attorney  was  willing  that  justice 
should  have  its  way ;  and  Williams  began  to  think  it  might  be 
prudent  to  manifest  less  anxiety  for  a  conviction  than  he  had  done 
in  the  case  in  which  the  party  murdered  had  been  resuscitated. 
The  judge  was  entranced  by  the  prisoner's  manner. 

"  I  believe  I  have  as  much  regard  for  my  soul  as  any  of  the 
neighbours  have  for  theirs,"  answered  Mrs.  Burton,  sullenly. 

"  Let  us  learn  that  in  your  reply  —  Did  you,  or  did  you  not, 
change  those  pieces  of  gold  ?" 

" Perhaps  I  might — It's  hard  to  say,  when  so  much  was  said 
and  done." 

"  How  came  you  with  the  other  piece,  with  which  to  make  the 
exchange  ?  Answer,  Sarah  Burton,  as  you  fear  Grod  ?" 

The  witness  trembled  like  an  aspen-leaf.  So  remarkable  was 
the  scene,  that  no  one  thought  of  interfering ;  but  the  judge,  the 
bar,  and  the  jury,  seemed  equally  willing  to  leave  the  two  females 
to  themselves,  as  the  most  efficient  means  of  extorting  the  truth. 
Mary  Monson's  colour  heightened ;  her  mien  and  countenance 
grew,  as  it  were,  with  the  occasion ;  while  Sarah  Burton's  became 
paler  and  paler,  as  each  question  was  put,  and  the  reply  pressed. 

"  I  can  have  money,  I  hope,  as  well  as  other  folks,"  answered 
the  witness. 

"  That  is  no  reply.  How  came  you  with  the  piece  of  gold 
that  is  notched,  that  you  could  exchange  it  for  the  piece  which 
was  not  notched,  and  which  was  the  one  really  found  in  my  purse  ? 
Answer  me  that,  Sarah  Burton ;  here,  where  we  both  stand  in 
the  presence  of  our  great  Creator?" 

"There's  no  need  of  your  pressing  a  body  so  awfully  —  I 
don't^believe  it's  law." 

"  I  repeat  the  question  —  or  I  will  answer  it  for  you.  When 
you  fired  the  house " 

The  woman  screamed,  and  raised  her  hands  in  natural  horror- 


472  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  I  never  set  the  house  on  fire,"  she  cried  —  "  It  took  from  tha 
stove-pipe  in  the  garret,  where  it  had  taken  twice  before." 

"  How  can  you  know  that,  unless  you  saw  it  ?  —  How  see  it, 
unless  present?" 

"  I  was  not  there;  and  did  not  see  it ;  but  I  know  the  garret 
had  caught  twice  before  from  that  cook-stove-pipe.  Aunt  Dolly 
was  very  wrong  to  neglect  it  as  she  did." 

"  And  the  blows  on  the  head  —  who  struck  those  blows,  Sarah 
Burton  ?" 

"  How  can  I  tell  ?  I  wasn't  there  —  no  one  but  a  fool  could 
believe  you  have  strength  to  do  it." 

"  How,  then,  was  it  done  ?    Speak  —  I  see  it  in  your  mind  ?" 

"  I  saw  the  ploughshare  lying  on  the  heads  of  the  skeletons ; 
and  I  saw  Moses  Steen  throw  it  off,  in  the  confusion  of  first  raking 
the  embers.  Moses  will  be  likely  to  remember  it,  if  sent  for,  and 
questioned." 

Here  was  a  most  important  fact  elicited  under  the  impulse  of 
self-justification ;  and  a  correspondiug  expression  of  surprise, 
passed  in  a  murmur,  through  the  audience.  The  eye  of  Mary 
Monson  kindled  with  triumph ;  and  she  continued  with  renewed 
powers  of  command  over  the  will  and  conscience  of  the  witness. 

"  This  is  well,  Sarah  Burton — it  is  right,  and  what  you  ought 
to  say.  You  think  that  the  fire  was  accidental,  and  that  the  frac 
tured  skulls  came  from  the  fall  of  the  plough  ?" 

"  I  do.  I  know  that  the  plough  stood  in  the  garret,  directly 
over  the  bed,  and  the  stove-pipe  passed  quite  near  it.  There  was 
an  elbow  in  that  pipe,  and  the  danger  was  at  that  elbow." 

"  This  is  well ;  and  the  eye  above  looks  on  you  with  less  dis 
pleasure,  Sarah  Burton" — as  this  was  said,  the  witness  turned 
her  looks  timidly  upwards,  as  if  to  assure  herself  of  the  fact  — 
"  Speak  holy  truth,  and  it  will  soon  become  benignant  and  for 
giving.  Now  tell  me  how  you  came  by  the  stocking  and  its 
contents  ?" 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  473 

"  The  stocking  \"  said  the  witness,  starting,  and  turning  white 
as  a  sheet.  "  Who  says  I  took  the  stocking  ?" 

"  I  do.  I  know  it  by  that  secret  intelligence  which  has  been 
given  me  to  discover  truth.  Speak,  then,  Sarah,  and  tell  the  court 
and  jury  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth/' 

"  Nobody  saw  me  take  it ;  and  nobody  can  say  I  took  it/' 

"  Therein  you  are  mistaken.  You  were  seen  to  take  it.  I 
saw  it,  for  one ;  but  there  was  another  who  saw  it,  with  its  mo 
tive,  whose  eye  is  ever  on  us.  Speak,  then,  Sarah,  and  keep 
nothing  back." 

"  I  meant  no  harm,  if  I  did  take  it.  There  was  so  many  folks 
about,  I  was  afraid  that  some  stranger  might  lay  hands  on  it. 
That's  all." 

"  You  were  seen  to  unlock  the  drawers,  as  you  stood  alone 
near  the  bureau,  in  the  confusion  and  excitement  of  the  finding 
of  the  skeletons.  You  did  it  stealthily,  Sarah  Burton." 

"  I  was  afraid  some  one  might  snatch  the  stocking  from  me. 
I  always  meant  to  give  it  up,  as  soon  as  the  law  said  to  whom  it 
belongs.  Davis  wants  it,  but  I'm  not  sure  it  is  his." 

"  What  key  did  you  use  ?     Keep  nothing  back/' 

"  One  of  my  own.     My  keys  unlocked  many  of  aunt  Dolly's 
drawers.    She  knew  it,  and  never  found  any  fault  with  it.   Why 
should  she  ?     Her  keys  unlocked  mine  !" 
•    a  Another  word  —  where  is  that  stocking,  and  where  are  its 
contents  ?" 

"  Both  are  safe  in  the  third  drawer  of  my  own  bureau,  and 
here  is  the  key,"  taking  one  from  her  bosom.  "I  put  them 
there  for  security,  as  no  one  opens  that  drawer  but  myself." 

Timms  took  the  key  from  the  unresisting  hand  of  the  woman, 
and  followed  by  Williams,  Davis,  and  one  or  two  more,  he  left 
the  court-house.  At  that  instant,  Sarah  Burton  fainted.  In  the 
confusion  of  removing  her  into  another  room,  Mary  Monson  re 
sumed  her  seat 


474  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

"Mr.  District  Attorney,  it  can  hardly  be  your  intention  to 
press  this  indictment  any  further  ?"  observed  the  judge,  wiping 
his  eyes,  and  much  delighted  with  the  unexpected  termination 
of  the  affair. 

The  functionary  addressed  was  glad  enough  to  be  rid  of  his 
unwelcome  office,  and  at  once  signified  his  willingness  to  enter  a 
nolle  prosequij  by  an  application  to  the  bench,  in  the  case  of  the 
arson,  and  to  submit  to  an  acquittal  in  that  now  being  traversed. 
After  a  brief  charge  from  the  judge,  the  jury  gave  a  verdict  of 
acquittal,  without  leaving  the  box ;  and  just  as  this  was  done, 
Timms  and  his  companions  returned,  bringing  with  them  the 
much-talked-of  stocking. 

It  required  months  completely  to  elucidate  the  whole  affair ; 
but  so  much  is  already  known,  and  this  part  of  our  subject  being 
virtually  disposed  of,  we  may  as  well  make  a  short  summary  of 
the  facts,  as  they  were  already  in  proof,  or  as  they  have  since 
come  to  light. 

The  fire  was  accidental,  as  has  been  recently  ascertained  by 
circumstances  it  is  unnecessary  to  relate.  Goodwin  had  left  his 
wife,  the  night  before  the  accident,  and  she  had  taken  the  Ger 
man  woman  to  sleep  with  her.  As  the  garret-floor  above  this 
pair  was  consumed,  the  plough  fell,  its  share  inflicting  the  blow 
which  stunned  them,  if  it  did  not  inflict  even  a  greater  injury. 
That  part  of  the  house  was  first  consumed,  and  the  skeletons 
were  found,  as  has  been  related,  side  by  side.  In  the  confusion 
of  the  scene,  Sarah  Burton  had  little  difficulty  in  opening  the 
drawer,  and  removing  the  stocking.  She  fancied  herself  unseen ; 
but  Mary  Monson  observed  the  movement,  though  she  had  then 
no  idea  what  was  abstracted.  The  unfortunate  delinquent  main 
tains  that  her  intention,  at  the  time,  was  good ;  or,  that  her  sole 
object  was  to  secure  the  gold;  but,  is  obliged  to  confess  that  the 
possession  of  the  treasure  gradually  excited  her  cupidity,  until 
she  began  to  hope  that  this  hoard  might  eventually  become  her 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  475 

own.  The  guilty  soonest  suspect  guilt.  As  10  "  the  pure,  all 
things  are  pure,"  so  it  is  with  the  innocent,  who  are  the  least 
inclined  to  suspect  others  of  wicked  actions.  Thus  was  it  with 
Mrs.  Burton.  In  the  commission  of  a  great  wrong  herself,  she 
had  little  difficulty  in  supposing  that  Mary  Monson  was  the  sort 
of  person  that  rumour  made  her  out  to  be.  She  saw  no  great 
harm,  then,  in  giving  a  shove  to  the  descending  culprit.  When 
looking  into  the  stocking,  she  had  seen,  and  put  in  her  own 
pocket,  the  notched  piece,  as  a  curiosity,  there  being  nothing 
more  unusual  in  the  guilty  thus  incurring  unnecessary  risks, 
than  there  is  in  the  moth's  temerity  in  fluttering  around  the 
candle.  When  the  purse  of  Mary  Monson  was  examined,  as 
usually  happens  on  such  occasions,  we  had  almost  said  as  always 
happens,  in  the  management  of  cases  that  are  subsequently  to 
form  a  part  of  the  justice  of  the  land,  much  less  attention  was 
paid  to  the  care  of  that  purse  than  ought  to  have  been  bestowed 
on  it.  Profiting  by  the  neglect,  Sarah  Burton  exchanged  the 
notched  coin  for  the  perfect  piece,  unobserved,  as  she  again  fan 
cied  ;  but  once  more  the  watchful  eye  of  Mary  Monson  was  on 
her.  The  first  time  the  woman  was  observed  by  the  last,  it  was 
accidentally;  but  suspicion  once  aroused,  it  was  natural  enough 
to  keep  a  look-out  on  the  suspected  party.  The  act  was  seen, 
and  at  the  moment  that  the  accused  thought  happy,  the  circum 
stance  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  trial.  Sarah  Burton  main 
tains  that,  at  first,  her  sole  intention  was  to  exchange  the  imper 
fect  for  the  perfect  coin ;  and  that  she  was  induced  to  swear  to 
the  piece  subsequently  produced,  as  that  found  on  Mary  Monson' s 
person,  as  a  literal  fact,  ignorant  of  what  might  be  its  conse 
quences.  Though  the  devil  doubtless  leads  us  on,  step  by  step, 
deeper  and  deeper,  into  crime  and  sin,  it  is  probable  that,  in  this 
particular,  the  guilty  woman  applied  a  flattering  unction  to  her 
conscience,  that  the  truth  would  have  destroyed. 
Great  was  the  wonder,  and  numberless  were  the  paragraphs 


476  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

that  this  unexpected  issue  of  the  "great  Biberry  murders"  pro 
duced.  As  respects  the  last,  anything  that  will  fill  a  column  is 
a  god-send,  and  the  falsehood  has  even  a  value  that  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  truth,  as  its  contradiction  will  help  along  quite  as 
much  as  the  original  statements.  If  the  public  could  only  bo 
brought  to  see  what  a  different  thing  publicity  becomes  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  turn  it  to  profit,  from  what  it  is  thought  to 
be,  by  those  who  fancy  it  is  merely  a  mode  of  circulating  facts,  a 
great  step  towards  a  much-needed  reformation  would  be  taken, 
by  confining  the  last  within  their  natural  limits. 

Mary  Monson's  name  passed  from  one  end  of  the  Union  to 
the  other,  and  thousands  heard  and  read  of  this  extraordinary 
woman,  who  never  had  the  smallest  clue  to  her  real  character  or 
subsequent  history.  How  few  reflected  on  the  defects  of  the 
system  that  condemned  her  to  the  gallows  on  insufficient  testi 
mony  ;  or,  under  another  phase  of  prejudice,  might  have  acquit 
ted  her  when  guilty  !  The  random  decisions  of  the  juries,  usually 
well-meaning,  but  so  rarely  discriminating,  or  as  intelligent  as 
they  ought  to  be,  attract  very  little  attention  beyond  the  bar ; 
and  even  the  members  of  that  often  strike  a  balance  in  error, 
with  which  they  learn  to  be  content ;  gaining  in  one  cause  as 
much  as  they  lose  in  another. 

There  was  a  strong  disposition  in  the  people  assembled  at  Bi 
berry,  on  the  occasion  of  the  trial,  to  make  a  public  spectacle  of 
Mary  Monson.  The  right  to  do  this,  with  all  things  in  heaven 
and  earth,  seems  to  belong  to  "republican  simplicity,"  which  is 
beginning  to  rule  the  land  with  a  rod  of  iron.  Unfortunately 
for  this  feeling,  the  subject  of  momentary  sympathy  was  not  a 
person  likely  to  allow  such  a  license.  She  did  not  believe,  be 
cause  she  had  endured  one  set  of  atrocious  wrongs,  that  she  was 
bound  to  submit  to  as  many  more  as  gaping  vulgarity  might  see 
fit  to  inflict.  She  sought  the  protection  of  good  Mrs.  Gott  and 
her  gaol,  some  forms  being  necessary  before  the  sentence  of  death 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR.  477 

could  be  legally  gotten  rid  of.  In  vain  were  the  windows  again 
crowded,  with  the  virtuous  wish  of  seeing  how  Mary  Monson 
looked,  now  she  was  acquitted;  just  as  they  had  been  previously 
thronged  in  order  to  ascertain  how  she  looked  when  there  was  a 
chance  of  her  being  condemned  to  the  gallows.  The  most  extra 
ordinary  part  of  the  affair,  was  the  circumstance  that  the  harp 
became  popular;  the  very  sentiment,  act,  or  thing  that,  in  one 
condition  of  the  common  mind,  is  about  to  be  l  cut  down  and 
cast  into  the  fire/  becoming  in  another,  all  that  is  noble,  com 
mendable,  or  desirable.  The  crowd  about  the  windows  of  the 
gaol,  for  the  first  few  hours  after  the  acquittal,  was  dying  to 
hear  the  prisoner  sing  and  play,  and  would  gladly  have  tolerated 
the  harp  and  a  l  foreign  tongue'  to  be  thus  gratified. 

But  Mary  Monson  was  safe  from  all  intrusion,  under  the  locks 
of  the  delighted  Mrs.  Gott.  This  kind-hearted  person  kissed 
her  prisoner,  over  and  over  again,  when  she  admitted  her  within 
the  gallery,  and  then  she  went  outside,  and  assured  several  of  the 
more  respectable  persons  in  the  crowd  how  thoroughly  she  had 
been  persuaded,  from  the  first,  of  the  innocence  of  her  friend. 
The  circumstances  of  this  important  trial  rendered  Mrs.  Gott  a 
very  distinguished  person  herself,  in  that  crowd,  and  never  was  a 
woman  happier  than  she  while  delivering  her  sentiments  on  the 
recent  events. 

"It's  altogether  the  most  foolish  trial  we  have  ever  had  in 
Duke's,  though  they  tell  me  foolish  trials  are  getting  to  be  only 
too  common,"  said  the  kind-hearted  wife  of  the  sheriff,  address 
ing  half-a-dozen  of  the  more  respectable  of  the  crowd.  "  It  gave 
me  a  big  fright,  I  will  own.  When  Gott  was  elected  sheriff,  I 
did  hope  he  would  escape  all  executions  but  debt  executions. 
The  more  he  has  of  them,  the  better.  It 's  bad  enough  to  escort 
thieves  to  Sing-Sing ;  but  the  gallows  is  a  poor  trade  for  a  decent 
man  to  meddle  with.  Then,  to  have  the  very  first  sentence,  one 
against  Mary  Monson,  who  is  as  much  above  such  a  punishment 


478  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

ae  virtue  is  above  vice.  When  I  heard  those  dreadful  words,  I 
felt  as  if  a  cord  was  round  my  own  neck.  But  I  had  faith  to 
the  last ;  Mary  has  always  told  me  that  she  should  be  acquitted, 
and  here  it  has  all  come  true,  at  last." 

"  Do  you  know,  Mrs.  Gott,"  said  one  of  her  friends,  "  it  is 
reported  that  this  woman— or  lady,  I  suppose  one  must  now  call 
her — has  been  in  the  habit  of  quitting  the  gaol  whenever  she 
saw  fit." 

"  Hu-s-h,  neighbor  Brookes ;  there  is  no  need  of  alarming 
the  county !  I  believe  you  are  right ;  though  it  was  all  done 
without  my  knowledge,  or  it  never  would  have  been  permitted. 
It  only  shows  the  power  of  money.  The  locks  are  as  good  as 
any  in  the  State ;  yet  Mary  certainly  did  find  means,  unbeknown 
to  me,  to  open  them.  It  can't  be  called  breaking  gaol,  since  she 
always  came  back !  I  had  a  good  fright  the  first  time  I  heard 
of  it,  but  use  reconciles  us  to  all  things.  I  never  let  Gott  into 
the  secret,  though  he 's  responsible,  as  he  calls  it,  for  all  his 
prisoners." 

"  Well,  when  a  matter  turns  out  happily,  it  does  no  good  to 
be  harping  on  it  always." 

Mrs.  Gott  assented,  and  in  this  case,  as  in  a  hundred  others, 
the  end  was  made  to  justify  the  means.  But  Mary  Monson  was 
felt  to  be  an  exception  to  all  rules,  and  there  was  no  longer  any 
disposition  to  cavil  at  any  of  her  proceedings.  Her  innocence 
had  been  established  so  very  triumphantly,  that  every  person 
regarded  her  vagaries  and  strange  conduct  with  indulgence. 

At  that  very  moment,  when  Mrs.  Gott  was  haranguing  her 
neighbours  at  the  door  of  the  gaol,  Dunscomb  was  closeted  with 
Michael  Millington  at  the  Inn ;  the  young  man  having  returned 
at  hot-speed  only  as  the  court  adjourned.  He  had  been  success 
ful,  notwithstanding  his  original  disappointment,  and  had  ascer 
tained  all  about  the  hitherto  mysterious  prisoner  of  the  Biberry 
gaol.  Mary  Monson  was,  as  Dunscomb  suspected,  Mildred  Mil- 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  479 

lington  by  birth — Mad.  de  Larocheforte  by  marriage — and  she 
was  the  grand-daughter  of  the  very  woman  to  whom  he  had  been 
betrothed  in  youth.  Her  insanity  was  not  distinctly  recognised, 
perhaps  could  not  have  been  legally  established,  though  it  was 
strongly  suspected  by  many  who  knew  her  intimately,  and  was  a 
source  of  great  uneasiness  with  all  who  felt  an  interest  in  her 
welfare.  Her  marriage  was  unhappy,  and  it  was  supposed  she 
had  taken  up  her  abode  in  the  cottage  of  the  Goodwins  to  avoid 
her  husband.  The  command  of  money  gave  her  a  power  to  do 
very  much  as  she  pleased,  and,  though  the  breath  of  calumny 
had  never  yet  blown  its  withering  blast  on  her  name,  she  erred 
in  many  things  that  are  duties  as  grave  as  that  of  being  chaste. 
The  laws  came  in  aid  of  her  whims  and  caprices.  There  is  no 
mode  by  which  an  errant  wife  can  be  made  to  perform  her  du 
ties  in  boldly  experimenting  New  York,  though  she  can  claim  a 
support  and  protection  from  her  husband.  The  '  cup  and  saucer* 
law  comes  in  aid  of  this  power,  and  the  men  who  cannot  keep 
their  wives  in  the  chains  of  Hynen  in  virtue  of  the  affections, 
may  just  as  well  submit,  with  a  grace,  to  be  the  victims  of  an 
ill-judging  and  most  treacherous  regard  for  the  rights  of  what 
tco  called  the  weaker  sex. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

"Why  wilt  thou  add  to  all  the  griefs  I  suffer, 
Imaginary  ills,  and  fancied  tortures?" 

Cato. 

THE  scene  must  now  be  shifted  to  Rattletrap.  Biberry  was 
deserted.  Even  the  rumours  with  which  its  streets  had  been  so 
lately  filled,  were  already  forgotten.  None  have  memories  as 
frail  as  the  gossip.  Not  only  does  this  class  of  persons  —  and  a 
numerous  class  it  is,  including  nearly  all  whose  minds  are  not 
fitted  to  receive  more  elevated  materials  —  not  only,  we  say,  does 
this  class  of  persons  overlook  the  contradictions  and  absurdities 
of  the  stories  they  repeat,  but  they  forget  the  stories  themselves 
almost  as  soon  as  heard.  Such  was  now  the  case  at  Biberry. 
Scarce  an  individual  could  be  found  in  the  place  who  would  ac 
knowledge  that  he  or  she  had  ever  heard  that  Mary  Monson  was 
connected  with  robbers,  or  who  could  recollect  that  he  once  fancied 
the  accused  guilty. 

We  may  as  well  say  here,  that  nothing  has  ever  been  done 
with  Sarah  Burton.  She  is  clearly  guilty ;  but  the  law,  in  these 
times  of  progress,  disdains  to  pursue  the  guilty.  Their  crimes 
are  known ;  and  of  what  use  can  it  be  to  expose  those  whom 
every  one  can  see  are  offenders !  No ;  it  is  the  innocent  who 
have  most  reason  to  dread  the  law.  They  can  be  put  to  trouble, 
cost,  vexation  and  loss,  if  they  cannot  be  exactly  condemned. 
We  see  how  thousands  regard  the  law  in  a  recent  movement  in 

(480) 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  481 

the  legislature,  by  which  suits  have  been  ordered  to  try  the  titles 
of  most  of  the  large  landed  proprietors,  with  the  very  honest  and 
modest  proposal  annexed,  that  their  cases  shall  be  prejudged,  and 
the  landlords  deprived  of  the  means  of  defending  themselves,  by 
sequestering  their  rents  !  Everybody  says  this  is  the  freest  coun 
try  on  earth ;  the  only  country  that  is  truly  free ;  but  we  must 
be  permitted  to  say,  that  such  a  law,  like  twenty  more  that  have 
been  passed  in  the  same  interest  within  the  last  ten  years,  savours 
a  good  deal  of  the  character  of  a  Ukase. 

Our  characters,  with  the  exception  of  McBrain  and  his  bride, 
were  now  assembled  at  Rattletrap.  Dunscomb  had  ascertained  all 
it  was  necessary  to  know  concerning  Mildred,  and  had  taken  the 
steps  necessary  to  protect  her.  Of  her  qualified  insanity  he  did 
not  entertain  a  doubt;  though  it  was  a  madness  so  concealed 
by  the  blandishments  of  education  and  the  graces  of  a  refined 
woman,  that  few  saw  it,  and  fewer  still  wished  to  believe  it  true. 
On  most  subjects  this  unhappy  lady  was  clear-minded  and  intelli 
gent  enough,  more  especially  on  that  of  money;  for,  while  her 
expenditures  were  generous,  and  her  largesses  most  liberal,  she 
manifested  wonderful  sagacity  in  taking  care  of  her  property.  It 
was  this  circumstance  that  rendered  it  so  difficult  to  take  any 
steps  to  deprive  her  of  its  control ;  though  Dunscomb  had  seen 
enough,  in  the  course  of  the  recent  trial,  to  satisfy  him  that  such 
a  measure  ought  to  be  resorted  to  in  the  interest  of  her  own 
character. 

It  was  in  cunning,  and  in  all  the  low  propensities  connected 
with  that  miserable  quality,  that  Mildred  Millington,  as  she  now 
insisted  on  calling  herself,  most  betrayed  her  infirmity.  Many 
instances  of  it  have  been  incidentally  related  in  the  course  of 
our  narrative,  however  unpleasant  such  an  exhibition  has  been. 
There  is  nothing  more  repugnant  to  the  principles  or  tastes  of 
the  right  thinking  and  right  feeling,  than  the  practices  which 
cunning  engenders.  Timms,  however,  was  a  most  willing  agent 

31 


482  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

in  all  the  schemes  of  his  client;  though  some  of  her  projects  had 
puzzled  him  by  their  elaborate  duplicity,  as  much  as  they  had 
astounded  him  by  their  boldness.  These  were  the  schemes  thai 
had  their  origin  in  obliquity  of  mind.  Still,  they  were  not  with, 
out  merit  in  the  eyes  of  Timms,  who  was  cunning  without  being 
mad. 

Before  quitting  Biberry,  Timms  was  liberally  paid  and  dis 
missed,  Dunscomb  explained  to  him  the  situation  of  his  hand 
some  client,  without  adverting  to  the  state  of  her  mind ;  when 
the  attorney  at  once  caught  at  the  chances  of  a  divorce.  Among 
the  other  "ways  of  the  hour/'  that  of  dissolving  the  marriage 
tie  has  got  to  be  a  sort  of  fashionable  mania.  Neither  time,  nor 
duties,  nor  children,  seem  to  interpose  any  material  obstacle; 
and,  if  our  own  laws  do  not  afford  the  required  facilities,  those 
of  some  of  our  more  liberal  neighbours  do.  Timms  keeps  this 
principle  in  his  mind,  and  is  at  this  moment  ruminating  on  the 
means  by  which  he  can  liberate  his  late  client  from  her  present 
chains,  and  bind  her  anew  in  some  of  his  own  forging.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  add,  that  Mildred  troubles  herself  very  little 
in  the  premises,  so  far  as  this  covert  lover  is  concerned. 

The  ridicule  of  Williams  was,  at  first,  the  sorest  portion  of 
Timms's  disappointment.  Bachelors  alike,  and  rivals  for  popular 
favour,  these  two  worthies  had  long  been  looking  out  for  advan 
tageous  marriages.  Each  had  the  sagacity  to  see  that  his  chances 
of  making  a  more  and  more  eligible  connexion  were  increasing 
slowly,  and  that  it  was  a  great  thing  for  a  rising  man  to  ascend 
without  dragging  after  him  a  wife  chosen  from  among  those  that 
prop  the  base  of  the  great  social  ladder.  It  was  nuts  to  one  of 
these  competitors  for  the  smiles  of  the  ladies  to  discover  that  his 
rival  was  in  love  with  a  married  woman ;  and  this  so  much  the 
more,  because  the  prospects  of  Timms's  success,  arising  from  his 
seeming  intimacy  with  the  fair  occupant  of  the  gaol,  had  given 
Williams  a  very  serious  fright.  Place  two  men  in  competition 


THE    WA.YS    OF    THE    HOUR.  48? 

no  matter  in  what,  and  all  their  energies  become  concentrated  in 
rivalry.  Again  and  again,  had  these  two  individuals  betrayed 
their  mutual  jealousy;  and  now  that  one  of  them  had  placed 
himself  in  a  position  so  false,  not  to  say  ridiculous,  the  other  did 
not  fail  to  enjoy  his  disappointment  to  the  top  of  his  bent.  It 
was  in  this  manner  that  Saucy  Williams  took  his  revenge  for  the 
defeat  in  the  trial. 

Mrs.  (rott  was  also  at  Rattletrap.  Dunscomb  retained  much 
of  his  original  tenderness  for  Mildred,  the  grandmother  of  hia 
guest  of  that  name,  and  he  granted  her  descendant  every  indul 
gence  she  could  ask.  Among  other  things,  one  of  the  requests 
of  the  liberated  prisoner  was  to  be  permitted  to  manifest  this 
sense  of  her  gratitude  for  the  many  acts  of  kindness  received 
from  the  wife  of  the  sheriff.  G-ott,  accordingly,  was  left  to  take 
care  of  himself,  while  his  nice  little  companion  was  transported 
to  a  scene  that  she  found  altogether  novel,  or  a  temporary  resi 
dence  in  a  gentleman's  dwelling.  Sarah's  housekeeping,  Sarah's 
good  nature,  attentions,  neatness,  attire  and  attractions,  would 
have  been  themes  to  monopolize  all  of  the  good  little  woman's 
admiration,  had  not  Anna  Updyke,  then  on  a  visit  at  Rattletrap, 
quite  fairly  come  in  for  her  full  share.  She  might  almost  be 
said  to  be  in  love  with  both. 

It  was  just  after  breakfast  that  Mildred  locked  an  arm  in  that 
of  Anna,  and  led  her  young  friend  by  one  of  the  wooded  paths 
that  runs  along  the  shores  of  the  Hudson,  terminating  in  a  sum 
mer-house,  with  a  most  glorious  view.  In  this,  there  was  no 
thing  remarkable ;  the  eye  rarely  resting  on  any  of  the  *  bits' 
that  adorn  the  banks  of  that  noble  stream,  without  taking  in 
beauties  to  enchant  it.  But  to  all  these  our  two  lovely  young 
women  were  momentarily  as  insensible  as  they  were  to  the  fact 
that  their  own  charming  forms,  floating  among  shrubbery  as  fra 
grant  as  themselves,  added  in  no  slight  degree  to  the  beauty  of 
the  scene.  In  manner,  Mildred  was  earnest,  if  not  ardent,  and 


484  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

a  little  excited;  on  the  other  hand,  Anna  was  placid,  though 
sensitive ;  changing  colour  without  ceasing,  as  her  thoughts  were 
drawn  nearer  and  nearer  to  that  theme  which  now  included  the 
great  object  of  her  existence. 

"  Your  uncle  brought  me  letters  from  town  last  evening,  Anna 
dear,"  commenced  the  liberated  lady:  "one  of  them  is  from 
Mons,  de  Larocheforte.  Is  that  not  strange?" 

"  What  is  there  so  strange  in  a  husband's  writing  to  his  wife  ? 
To  me,  it  seems  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world." 

"  It  does  ? — I  am  surprised  to  hear  you  say  so — you,  Anna, 
whom  I  regarded  as  so  truly  my  friend.  I  have  discarded  Mons. 
de  Larocheforte,  and  he  ought  to  respect  my  pleasure." 

"  It  would  have  been  better,  my  dear  mamma,  had  you  dis 
carded  him  before  marriage,  instead  of  after." 

"  Ah  —  your  dear  mamma,  indeed!  I  was  your  school  mam 
ma,  Anna,  and  well  had  it  been  for  me  had  I  been  left  to  finish 
my  education  in  my  own  country.  Then,  I  should  have  escaped 
this  most  unfortunate  marriage  !  Do  not  marry,  Anna  —  take 
my  advice,  and  never  marry.  Matrimony  is  unsuited  to  ladies." 

"How  long  have  you  been  of  this  opinion,  dear  mamma?" 
asked  the  young  girl,  smiling. 

"  Just  as  long  as  I  have  been  made  to  feel  how  it  crushes  a 
woman's  independence,  and  how  completely  it  gives  her  a  master, 
and  how  very,  very  humiliating  and  depressing  is  the  bondage  it 
inflicts.  Do  you  not  feel  the  force  of  my  reasons  ?" 

"  I  confess  I  do  not/ ;  answered  Anna,  in  a  subdued,  yet  clear 
and  distinct  voice.  "  I  see  nothing  humiliating  or  depressing  in 
a  woman's  submission  to  her  husband.  It  is  the  law  of  nature, 
and  why  should  we  wish  to  ajter  it  ?  My  mother  has  ever  in 
culcated  such  opinions,  and  you  will  excuse  me  if  I  say  I  think 
the  bible  does,  also." 

"  The  bible  !  — Yes,  that  is  a  good  book,  though  I  am  afraid 
it  is  very  little  read  in  France.  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  say,  '  reed 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  483 

very  little  by  strangers  resident  in  France/  The  French  women, 
themselves,  are  not  one  half  as  negligent  of  their  duties,  in  this 
respect,  as  are  the  strangers  who  go  to  reside  among  them. 
When  the  roots,  that  have  grown  to  any  size  in  their  native  soil, 
are  violently  transplanted  to  another,  it  is  not  often  that  the  tree 
obtains  its  proper  dimensions  and  grace.  I  wish  I  had  never 
seen  France,  Anna,  in  which  case  I  should  never  have  been 
Mad.  de  Larocheforte  —  vicomtesse,  by  the  old  law,  and  I  am 
afraid  it  was  that  idle  appellation  that  entrapped  me.  How  much 
more  truly  respectable  I  should  have  been  as  Mrs.  John  Smith, 
or  Mrs.  John  Brown,  or  Mrs.  David  Smith,  the  wife  of  a  coun 
tryman,  if  I  must  be  a  wife,  at  all  I" 

"  Choose  at  least  some  name  of  higher  pretension,"  said  Anna, 
laughing.  "  Why  not  a  Mrs.  Van  Rensselaer,  or  a  Mrs.  Van 
Cortlandt,  or  a  Mrs.  Livingston,  or  a  Mrs.  Somebody  else,  of  one 
of  our  good  old  families  1" 

"  Families  ! — Do  you  know,  child,  it  is  treason  to  talk  of  fami 
lies  in  this  age  of  anti-rentism.  They  tell  me  that  the  man  who 
makes  an  estate,  may  enjoy  it,  should  he  happen  to  know  how, 
and  this,  though  he  may  have  cheated  all  he  ever  dealt  with,  in 
order  to  become  rich ;  but,  that  he  who  inherits  an  estate,  has  no 
claim.  It  is  his  tenants  who  have  the  high  moral  claim  to  his 
father's  property." 

"  I  know  nothing  of  all  this,  and  would  rather  talk  of  things 
I  understand. " 

"  By  which  you  mean  wedlock,  and  its  cares !  No,  my  dear, 
you  little  understand  what  matrimony  is,  or  how  much  humilia 
tion  is  required  of  us  women  to  become  wives,  or  you  would 
never  think  of  marrying." 

"  I  have  never  told  you  that  I  do  think  of  marrying  —  that  is, 
not  much." 

"  There  spoke  your  honest  nature,  which  will  not  permit  even 
an  unintended  deception.  This  it  was  that  so  much  attached  nw 


486  THE   WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

to  you  as  a  child ;  for,  though  I  am  not  very  ingenuous  myself 
I  can  admire  the  quality  in  another." 

"  This  admission  does  not  exactly  prove  the  truth  of  your 
words,  mamma !"  said  Anna,  smiling. 

"  No  matter  —  let  us  talk  of  matrimony.  Has  John  Wilmeter 
proposed  to  you,  Anna?" 

This  was  a  home  question ;  no  wonder  the  young  lady  started. 
After  a  short,  musing  pause,  however,  the  native  candour  of 
Anna  Updyke  prevailed,  and  she  admitted  that  he  had. 

"  Thank  you  for  this  confidence ;  but  you  must  go  further. 
Remember,  I  am  your  mamma.  Is  the  gentleman  accepted  ?" 

A  rosy  blush,  succeeded  by  a  nod  of  the  head,  was  the  answer, 

"  I  am  sorry  I  was  not  consulted,  before  all  this  happened ; 
though  I  have  managed  my  own  matters  so  ill,  as  to  have  very 
few  claims  to  your  confidence.  You  scarce  know  what  you  un 
dertake,  my  child." 

"  I  undertake  to  become  Jack  Wilmeter's  wife,"  answered  the 
betrothed,  in  a  very  low  but  a  very  firm  voice ;  "  and  I  hope  I 
shall  make  him  a  good  one.  Most  of  all,  do  I  pray  to  be  obe 
dient  and  submissive." 

"  To  no  man  that  breathes,  Anna !  —  no,  to  no  man  breathing ! 
It  is  their  business  to  submit  to  us ;  not  we  to  them !" 

"  This  is  not  my  reading  of  the  great  rule  of  woman's  conduct. 
In  my  view  of  our  duties,  it  is  the  part  of  woman  to  be  affection 
ate,  mild,  patient  and  sympathizing, — if  necessary,  forgiving.  I 
firmly  believe  that,  in  the  end,  such  a  woman  cannot  fail  to  be 
as  happy  as  is  permitted  to  us  to  be,  here  on  earth." 

"  Forgiving  !"  repeated  Mildred,  her  eyes  flashing ;  "  yes,  that 
is  a  word  often  used,  yet  how  few  truly  practise  its  teachings ! 
Why  should  I  forgive  any  one  that  has  wronged  me?  Our 
nature  tells  us  to  resent,  to  punish,  if  necessary,  as  you  say — to 
revenge." 

A  slight  shudder  passed  through  the  frame  of  Anna,  and  she 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR.  487 

unconsciously  moved  farther  from  her  companion,  though  their 
arms  still  continued  locked. 

"  There  must  be  a  great  difference  between  France  and  Ame 
rica,  if  revenge  is  ever  taught  to  a  woman,  as  a  part  of  her  duty/' 
returned  the  younger  female,  now  speaking  with  an  earnestness 
<she  had  not  before  betrayed ;  "  here,  we  are  told  that  Christianity 
forbids  the  very  thought  of  it,  and  that  to  forgive  is  among  the 
very  first  of  our  duties.  My  great  instructor  in  such  things,  has 
told  me  tfeat  one  of  the  surest  evidences  of  a  hopeful  state  of  the 
feelings,  is  the  banishment  of  every  thing  like  resentment,  and  a 
desire  to  be  at  peace  with  all  around  us  —  to  have  a  perception 
that  we  love  the  race  as  beings  of  our  own  wants  and  hopes." 

"  Is  this  the  sort  of  love,  then,  with  which  you  give  your  hand 
to  young  Wilmeter?" 

Scarlet  is  not  brighter  than  was  the  colour  that  now  glowed 
in  the  cheeks  of  Anna,  stole  into  her  temples,  and  even  diffused 
itself  over  her  neck  and  chest  To  herself  it  seemed  as  if  her 
very  hands  blushed.  Then  the  power  of  innocence  came  to  sus 
tain  her,  and  she  became  calm  and  steady. 

"  It  is  not  the  feeling  with  which  I  shall  marry  John,"  she 
said.  "  Nature  has  given  us  another  sentiment,  and  I  shall  not 
endeavour  to  be  superior  to  all  of  my  sex  and  class.  I  love 
John  Wilmeter,  I  own ;  and  I  hope  to  make  him  happy." 

"To  be  a  dutiful,  obedient  wife,  for  ever  studying  his  tastes 
and  caprices!" 

"  I  trust  I  shall  not  be  for  ever  studying  the  indulgence  of  my 
own.  I  see  nothing  degrading  to  a  woman,  in  her  filling  the 
•place  nature  and  Christianity  have  assigned  to  her,  and  in  her 
doing  her  duty,  as  a  wife/7 

"  These  are  not  my  feelings,  receiving  your  terms  as  you  wish 
them  to  be  understood.  But  several  have  told  me  I  ought 
never  to  have  married ;  I  myself  know  that  I  should  have  been 
an  American,  and  not  a  French  wife/' 


488  THE   WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

"  I  have  ever  heard  that  greater  latitude  is  given  to  our  sex, 
in  France,  than  in  this  country/' 

"  That  is  true  in  part  only.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  retenue 
of  a  French  girl,  or  anything  that  is  decent  exceed  the  want  of 
it  that  is  manifested  by  many  Americans.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  married  woman  here,  has  no  privileges  at  all,  not  even  in 
society;  while  in  France,  under  an  air  of  great  seeming  pro 
priety,  she  does  very  much  as  she  sees  fit.  It  is  a  mistake,  how 
ever,  to  suppose  that  faithful  wives,  and  devoted  mothers,  most 
especially  the  last,  are  not  to  be  found  all  over  Europe  —  in 
France,  in  particular/' 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  it,"  cried  Anna,  with  a  really  gratified 
air ;  "  it  gives  me  pleasure  when  I  hear  of  any  of  our  sex  behav 
ing  as  they  should  behave." 

"  Should  behave !  I  fear,  Anna,  a  little  covert  reproach  is 
intended,  in  that  remark.  Our  estimate  of  the  conduct  of  our 
friends  must  depend  on  our  notions  of  our  own  duties.  Now, 
hearken  to  my  manner  of  reasoning  on  this  subject.  In  a  phy 
sical  sense,  man  is  strong,  woman  is  weak;  while,  in  a  moral 
sense,  woman  is  strong  and  man  is  weak.  You  admit  my 
premises?" 

"The  first  part  of  them,  certainly,"  said  Anna,  laughing, 
"  while  I  pretend  to  no  knowledge  of  the  last." 

"  You  surely  do  not  believe  that  John  Wilmeter  is  as  pure, 
ingenuous,  good,  as  you  are  yourself?" 

"  I  see  no  reason  why  he  should  not  be.  I  am  far  from  cer 
tain  Jack  is  not  even  better." 

"  It  is  useless  to  discuss  such  a  subject  with  you.  The  princi 
ple  of  pride  is  wanting,  without  which  you  can  never  enter  into 
my  feelings." 

"  I  am  glad  it  is  so.  I  fancy  John  will  be  all  the  happier  for 
it.  Ah !  my  dear  mamma,  I  never  knew  any  good  come  of  what 
you  call  this  '  principle  of  pride/  We  are  told  to  be  humbly 


THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  489 

and  not  to  be  proud.  It  may  be  all  the  better  for  us  females 
that  rulers  are  given  to  us  here,  in  the  persons  of  our  husbands." 

u  Anna  Updyke,  do  you  marry  John  Wilmeter  with  the  feel 
ing  that  he  is  to  rule  ?  You  overlook  the  signs  of  the  times, 
the  ways  of  the  hour,  child,  if  you  do  aught  so  weak !  Look 
around  you,  and  see  how  everybody,  almost  everything,  is  be 
coming  independent,  our  sex  included.  Formerly,  as  I  have 
heard  elderly  persons  say,  if  a  woman  suffered  in  her  domestic 
relations,  she  was  compelled  to  suffer  all.  The  quarrel  lasted  for 
a  life.  Now,  no  one  thinks  of  being  so  unreasonably  wretched. 
No,  the  wronged  wife,  or  even  the  offended  wife  —  Monsieur  de 
Larocheforte  snuffs  abominably — abominably— yes,  abominably 
—  but  no  wife  is  obliged,  in  these  times  of  independence  and 
reason,  to  endure  a  snuffy  husband " 

"  No,"  broke  in  Dunscomb,  appearing  from  an  adjoining  path, 
"  she  has  only  to  pack  up  her  spoons  and  be  off.  The  Code  can 
never  catch  her.  If  it  could  on  one  page,  my  life  for  it  there  is 
a  hole  for  her  to  get  out  of  its  grasp  on  the  next.  Your  servant, 
ladies ;  I  have  been  obliged  to  overhear  more  of  your  conversa 
tion  than  was  intended  for  my  ears,  perhaps ;  these  paths  running 
so  close  to  each  other,  and  you  being  so  animated  —  and  now,  I 
mean  to  take  an  old  man's  privilege,  and  speak  my  mind.  In 
the  first  place,  I  shall  deal  with  the  agreeable.  Anna,  my  love, 
Jack  is  a  lucky  fellow — far  luckier  than  he  deserves  to  be.  You 
carry  the  right  sentiment  into  wedlock.  It  is  the  right  of  the 
husband  to  be  the  head  of  his  family ;  and  the  wife  who  resisti 
his  authority  is  neither  prudent  nor  a  Christian.  He  may  abuse 
it,  it  is  true ;  but,  even  then,  so  long  as  criminality  is  escaped,  it 
were  better  to  submit.  I  approve  of  every  word  you  have  uttered, 
dear,  and  thank  you  for  it  all  in  my  nephew's  name.  And  now, 
Mildred,  as  one  who  has  a  right  to  advise  you,  by  his  avowed 
love  for  your  grandmother,  and  recent  close  connection  with  your 
self,  let  me  tell  you  what  I  think  of  those  principles  that  you 
21* 


490  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

avow,  and  also  of  the  state  of  things  that  is  so  fast  growing  up 
in  this  country.  In  the  first  place,  he  is  no  true  friend  of  your 
sex  who  teaches  it  this  doctrine  of  independence.  I  should  think 
—  it  is  true,  I  am  only  a  bachelor,  and  have  no  experience  to 
back  me  —  but,  I  should  think  that  a  woman  who  truly  loves 
her  husband,  would  find  a  delight  in  her  dependence " 

"  Oh  !  certainly !"  exclaimed  Anna  —  biting  her  tongue  at  the 
next  instant,  and  blushing  scarlet  at  her  own  temerity. 

"I  understand  you,  child,  and  approve  again  —  but  there 
comes  Jack,  and  I  shall  have  to  turn  you  over  to  him,  that  you 
may  receive  a  good  scolding  from  head-quarters,  for  this  abject 
servitude  feeling,  that  you  have  betrayed.  Go  —  go  —  his  arm 
is  held  out  already  —  and  harkee,  young  folk,  remember  that  a 
new  maxim  in  morals  has  come  in  with  the  Code  — { Principles 
depend  on  Circumstances/  That  is  the  rule  of  conduct  now-a- 
days  —  that,  and  anti-rentism,  and  '  republican  simplicity/  and 
the  <  cup  -and  -saucer  law,"  and  —  and  —  yes  —  and  the  ever- 
blessed  Code!" 

Dunscomb  was  obliged  to  stop  for  breath,  which  gave  the 
young  couple  an  opportunity  to  walk  away.  As  for  Mildred,  she 
stood  collected,  extremely  lady-like  in  mien,  but  with  a  slight 
degree  of  hauteur  expressed  in  her  countenance. 

"  And  now,  sir,  that  we  are  alone,"  she  said,  "  permit  me  to 
inquire  what  my  part  of  the  lecture  is  to  be.  I  trust  you  will 
remember,  however,  that,  while  I  am  Mildred  Millington  by 
birth,  the  law  which  you  so  much  reverence  and  admire,  makes 
me  Madame  de  Larocheforte." 

"  You  mean  to  say  that  I  have  the  honour  of  conversing  with 
a  married  woman  ?" 

"  Exactly  so,  Mr.  Dunscomb." 

"  I  comprehend  you,  ma'am,  and  shall  respect  your  position. 
You  are  not  about  to  become  my  niece,  and  I  can  claim  no  right 
to  exceed  the  bounds  of  friendship " 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        491 


«  Nay,  my  dear  sir;  I  do  not  wish  to  say  this.  You 
every  right  to  advise.  To  ine,  you  have  been  a  steady  and  well- 
judging  friend,  and  this,  in  the  most  trying  circumstances.  I  am 
ready  to  hear  you,  sir,  in  deference,  if  not  in  your  beloved  hu 
mility/' 

"  That  which  I  have  to  say  refers  solely  to  your  own  happi 
ness,  Mildred.  Your  return  to  America  has,  I  fear,  been  most 
inopportune.  Among  other  innovations  that  are  making  on 
every  side  of  us,  even  to  the  verge  of  the  dissolution  of  civilized 
society,  comes  the  liberty  of  woman.  Need  I  tell  you,  what  will 
be  the  next  step  in  this  downward  career  ?" 

"  You  needs  must,  Mr.  Dunscomb  —  I  do  not  comprehend  you. 
—What  will  that  step  be  ?" 

"Her  licentiousness.  No  woman  can  throw  off  the  most 
sacred  of  all  her  earthly  duties,  in  this  reckless  manner,  and 
hope  to  escape  from  the  doom  of  her  sex.  After  making  a  pro 
per  allowance  for  the  increase  of  population,  the  increase  in  sepa 
rated  married  people  is  getting  to  be  out  of  all  proportion. 
Scarce  a  month  passes  that  one  does  not  hear  of  some  wife  who 
has  left  her  husband,  secreted  herself  with  a  child  perhaps,  as 
you  did,  in  some  farm-house,  passing  by  a  different  name,  and 
struggling  for  her  rights,  as  she  imagines-  Trust  me,  Mildred, 
all  this  is  as  much  opposed  to  nature  as  it  is  to  prescribed  duties. 
That  young  woman  spoke  merely  what  an  inward  impulse,  that 
is  incorporated  with  her  very  being,  prompted  her  to  utter.  A 
most  excellent  mother  —  oh  !  what  a  blessing  is  that  to  one  of 
your  sex  —  how  necessary,  how  heavenly,  how  holy  !  —  an  excel 
lent  mother  has  left  her  in  ignorance  of  no  one  duty,  and  her 
character  has  been  formed  in  what  I  shall  term  harmony  with 
her  sex.  I  must  be  plain,  Mildred  —  you  have  not  enjoyed  this 
advantage.  Deprived  of  your  parent  young,  known  to  be  rich, 
and  transplanted  to  another  soil,  your  education  has  necessarily 
been  entrusted  to  hirelings,  flatterers,  or  persons  indifferent  to 


492  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

your  real  well-being ;  those  who  have  consulted  most  the  reputa 
tion  of  their  instruction,  and  have  paid  the  most  attention  to 
those  arts  which  soonest  strike  the  eye,  and  most  readily  attract 
admiration.  In  this,  their  success  has  been  complete." 

"  While  you  think  it  has  not  been  so  much  so,,  sir,  in  more 
material  things  ?"  said  the  lady,  haughtily. 

"  Let  me  be  sincere.  It  is  due  to  my  relation  to  you — to  your 
grandmother — to  the  past — to  the  present  time.  I  know  the 
blood  that  runs  in  your  veins,  Mildred.  You  are  self-willed  by 
descent,  rich  by  inheritance,  independent  by  the  folly  of  our 
legislators.  Accident  has  brought  you  home,  at  the  very,  moment 
when  our  ill-considered  laws  are  unhinging  society  in  many  of  its 
most  sacred  interests ;  and,  consulting  only  an  innate  propensity, 
you  have  ventured  to  separate  from  your  husband,  to  conceal 
yourself  in  a  cottage,  a  measure,  I  dare  say,  that  comported  well 
with  your  love  of  the  romantic n 

"  Not  so — I  was  oppressed,  annoyed,  unhappy  at  home,  and 
sought  refuge  in  that  cottage.  MODS,  de  Larocheforte  has  such 
a  passion  for  snuff! — He  uses  it  night  and  day/' 

"  Then  followed  the  serious  consequences  which  involved  you 
in  so  many  fearful  dangers " 

"  True,"  interrupted  the  lady,  laying  her  small,  gloved  hand 
hastily  on  his  arm — "  very  true,  dear  Mr.  Dunscomb ;  but  how 
cleverly  I  contrived  to  escape  them  all  I — how  well  I  managed 
your  Mr.  Timms,  good  Mrs.  Gott,  the  puffy,  pompous  sheriff, 
that  wily  Williams  too,  whose  palm  felt  the  influence  of  my  gold 
— oh  !  the  excitement  of  the  last  two  months  has  been  a  gift  of 
paradise  to  me,  and,  for  the  first  time  since  my  marriage,  have  I 
known  what  true  happiness  was !" 

Dunscomb  turned,  astonished,  to  his  companion,  and  stared 
her  in  the  face.  Never  was  the  countenance  more  lovely  to  the 
cursory  glance,  the  eye  brighter,  the  cheek  with  a  richer  glow 
on  it,  or  the  whole  air,  mien  and  attitude  more  replete  with 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  498 

womanly  loveliness,  and  womanly  graces;  but  the  observant  eye 
of  the  lawyer  penetrated  beyond  all  these,  and  detected  the  un 
happy  spirit  which  had  gained  possession  of  a  tenement  so 
lovely.  The  expression  of  the  countenance  denoted  the  very 
triumph  of  cunning.  "We  pretend  not  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
arcana  of  nature,  to  be  able  to  detect  the  manner  in  which  the 
moving  principles  prompt  to  good  or  evil,  but  we  must  reject  all 
sacred  history,  and  no  small  portion  of  profane,  not  to  believe 
that  agencies  exist  that  are  not  visible  to  our  ordinary  senses ; 
and  that  our  boasted  reason,  when  abandoned  to  its  own  support, 
becomes  the  victim  of  those  that  are  malign.  We  care  not  by 
what  names  these  agents  are  called,  imps,  demons,  evil  spirits, 
or  evil  passions ;  but  this  we  do  know,  let  him  beware  who  sub 
mits  to  their  control.  Better,  far  better,  were  it  that  such  an 
one  had  never  been  born ! 

Three  days  later  Mildred  Millington  was  in  a  state  that  left 
no  doubt  of  her  infirmity.  The  lucid  intervals  were  long,  how 
ever,  and  at  such  times  her  mind  seemed  clear  enough  on  all 
subjects  but  one.  Divorce  was  her  "ruling  passion,"  and,  in 
order  to  effect  her  purpose,  all  the  extraordinary  ingenuity  of  a 
most  fertile  mind  was  put  in  requisition.  Although  means  were 
promptly,  but  cautiously,  taken  to  see  that  she  did  not  squander 
her  large  pecuniary  resources,  Dunscomb  early  saw  that  they 
were  uncalled  for.  Few  persons  were  better  qualified  to  look 
after  their  money  than  was  this  unfortunate  lady,  in  the  midst 
of  the  dire  visitation  that  intellectually  reduced  her  below  the 
level  of  most  around  her.  On  this  head  her  sagacity  was  of 
proof;  though  her  hand  was  not  closed  in  the  gripe  of  a  miser. 
Accustomed,  from  childhood,  to  a  liberal  expenditure,  she  was 
willing  still  to  use  the  means  that  an  inscrutable  Providence  had 
so  liberally  placed  in  her  way,  her  largesses  and  her  charities 
continuing  the  same  as  ever.  Down  to  the  present  moment  the 
fund-holder,  the  owner  of  town  property,  the  mortgagee,  and  th« 


494  THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR. 

trader  is  allowed  to  enjoy  his  own,  without  any  direct  interference 
of  the  demagogue  with  his  rights ;  but  how  much  longer  this 
exception  is  to  last,  is  known  only  to  the  Being  who  directs  the 
destinies  of  nations ;  or,  at  least,  not  to  any  who  are  now  on 
earth,  surrounded  equally  by  the  infirmities  and  ignorance  of  the 
present  state. 

But  Mildred  was,  and  is  yet,  permitted  to  exercise  her  rights 
over  her  own  property,  though  care  is  had  to  see  that  no  undue 
advantage  is  taken  of  her  sex,  years,  and  ignorance.  Beyond 
this  her  control  was  not  disputed,  and  she  was  suffered  to  manage 
her  own  affairs.  She  set  about  the  matter  of  a  divorce  with  the 
whole  energy  of  her  nature,  and  the  cunning  of  her  malady. 
Timms  was  again  summoned  to  her  service,  unknown  to  Duns- 
comb,  who  would  never  have  winked  at  the  measures  that  were 
taken,  though  so  much  in  accordance  with  "the  ways  of  the 
hour." 

Provided  with  proper  credentials,  this  managing  agent  sought 
an  interview  with  Mons.  de  Larocheforte,  a  worn-out  debauchee 
of  some  rank,  who,  sooth  to  say,  had  faults  even  graver  than  that 
of  taking  snuff.  Notwithstanding  the  great  personal  attractions 
of  Mildred,  the  motive  for  marrying  her  had  been  money :  as  is 
usually  the  case  in  a  very  great  proportion  of  the  connections  of 
the  old  world,  among  persons  of  condition.  Love  is  to  succeed, 
and  not  to  precede,  matrimony.  Mildred  had  been  taught  that 
lesson,  and  grievously  had  she  been  disappointed.  The  snuff 
got  into  her  eyes.  Mons.  de  Larocheforte  —  Mons.  le  Vicomte 
as  he  had  been,  and  was  still  determined  to  be,  and  in  all  proba 
bility  will  be,  in  spite  of  all  the  French  "republican  simplicity" 
that  was  ever  summoned  to  a  nation's  rescue — Mons.  le  Vicomte 
was  directly  approached  by  Timms,  and  a  proposal  made  that  he 
should  put  himself  in  a  condition  to  be  divorced,  for  a  stipulated 
price.  Notwithstanding  the  opinion  of  the  learned  Attorney- 
general  of  this  great  state,  of  the  European  aristocracy,  and 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  414 

who  is  so  every  way  qualified  to  give  such  an  opinion,  ex  officio 
as  it  might  be,  Mons.  de  Larocheforte  declined  lending  himself 
to  so  vile  a  proposition,  Frenchman  and  noble  as  he  was.  Nor 
did  the  husband  believe  that  the  discreditable  proposal  came  fron* 
his  wife.  He  compelled  Timms  to  admit  as  much,  under  a 
menace  of  losing  his  case.  That  worthy  was  puzzled  at  this  re- 
eult,  for  he  had  made  the  proposal  on  his  "  own  hook,"  as  he 
afterwards  explained  the  matter  to  Williams,  in  the  fullest  con 
fidence  of  "  republican  simplicity/ '  and  was  astonished  at  meeting 
with  the  self-respect  of  a  gentleman,  if  with  no  very  elevated 
principles  in  a  nobleman  !  It  was  accordingly  necessary  to  have 
recourse  to  some  other  mode  of  proceeding. 

Luckily  for  the  views  -of  Timms  and  his  fair  client,  one  can 
scarcely  go  amiss  in  this  country,  when  a  divorce  is  desired. 
Although  a  few  of  the  older  states  remain  reasonably  inflexible 
on  this  subject,  in  some  respects  unreasonably  so,  indeed,  they 
are  generally  surrounded  by  communities  that  are  more  indulgent. 
By  means  of  some  hocus  pocus  of  the  law,  that  we  pretend  not 
to  explain,  the  names  of  Gabriel  Jules  Vincent  Jean  Baptiste  de 
Larocheforte  ads.  Mildred  de  Larocheforte,  were  just  beginning 
to  steal  on  the  dawn  of  the  newspapers,  in  a  case  that,  ere  long, 
might  blaze  in  the  meridian  of  gossip. 

Dunscomb  frowned,  and  reproached,  but  it  was  too  late  to  recede. 
He  has  told  Mildred,  and  he  has  told  Timms,  that  nuptial  knots 
tied  in  one  community,  cannot  be  so  readily  unloosed  in  another, 
as  many  imagine ;  and  that  there  must,  at  least,  be  good  faith  — 
the  animus  revertendi  —  in  the  change  of  residence  that  usually 
precedes  the  application.  But  money  is  very  powerful,  and 
smooths  a  thousand  difficulties.  No  one  could  predict  the  termi 
nation  ;  and,  as  the  vicomte,  though  only  to  be  approached  in  a 
more  delicate  way  than  that  adopted  by  Timms,  was  as  tired  of  the 
connection  as  his  wife,  and  was  very  anxious  to  obtain  a  larger 
share  of  the  fortune  than  the  "  cup  and  saucer"  law  will  give 


496  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

him,  it  was  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  end  of  the  affair  would 
be  a  quasi  divorce,  that  would  at  least  enable  each  party  to  take  his 
or  her  own  course,  without  fear  of  molestation  from  the  other. 

In  the  mean  time,  Millington  was  married  very  shortly  after 
the  trial.  The  engagement  had  not  been  long,  but  the  parties 
had  known  each  other  intimately  for  years.  The  bridegroom,  in 
one  sense,  was  the  head  of  his  family,  though  by  no  means  pos 
sessed  of  its  largest  fortune.  In  this  character,  it  devolved  on 
him  to  care  for  the  interests  of  his  fair  relative.  Although  as 
much  opposed  as  Dunscomb  to  the  course  she  was  taking,  he  did 
not  shrink  from  his  duties  as  a  relative ;  and  it  is  understood 
that  his  house  is  Mildred's  home  when  in  town.  Rattletrap 
opened  its  hospitable  doors  to  the  unfortunate  woman,  whenever 
she  chose  to  visit  the  place ;  and  Timbully  has  also  claims  on 
her  time  and  presence. 

Dunscomb  announced  his  intention  to  retire  from  practice  at 
the  end  of  a  twelvemonth,  the  morning  that  Michael  and  Sarah 
were  married.  In  the  intervening  time,  John  Wilmeter  and  his 
new  nephew  were  received  as  partners,  and  the  worthy  bachelor 
is  now  sedulously  but  silently  transferring  as  respectable  and 
profitable  a  list  of  clients,  as  any  man  in  the  courts  can  claim. 
His  own  advice  is  promised,  at  all  times,  to  his  old  friends  j  and, 
as  not  a  soul  has  objected,  and  the  young  men  bid  fair,  there  is 
every  reason  to  hope  that  useful  and  profitable  labour  will  keep 
both  out  of  mischief. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

"Some  curate  has  penn'd  this  invective, 
And  you  have  studied  it." 

MASSINGER. 

THE  day  set  apart  for  the  nuptials  of  John  Wilmeter  and 
Anna  Updyke  finally  arrived.  The  ceremony  was  to  take  place 
in  a  little  church  that  had  stood,  time  out  of  mind,  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  Timbully.  This  church  was  colo 
nial  in  its  origin,  and,  while  so  much  around  it  has  undergone 
vital  changes,  there  stands  that  little  temple,  reared  in  honour 
of  God,  in  its  simplicity,  unpretending  yet  solid  and  durable 
architecture,  resembling,  in  all  these  particulars,  the  faith  it  was 
erected  to  sustain.  Among  the  other  ways  of  the  hour  that  are 
worthy  of  our  notice,  the  church  itself  has  sustained  many  rude 
shocks  of  late  —  shocks  from  within  as  well  as  from  without. 
The  Father  of  Lies  has  been  roving  through  its  flocks  with 
renewed  malice,  damaging  the  shepherds,  perhaps,  quite  as  much 
as  the  sheep,  and  doing  things  hitherto  unheard  of  in  the  brief 
annals  of  American  Ecclesiastical  History.  Although  we  deeply 
regret  this  state  of  things,  we  feel  no  alarm.  The  hand  which 
first  reared  this  moral  fabric  will  be  certain  to  protect  it  as  far  as 
that  protection  shall  be  for  its  good.  It  has  already  effected  a 
great  reform.  The  trumpet  is  no  longer  blown  in  Zion  in  our 
own  honour ;  to  boast  of  the  effects  of  a  particular  discipline ;  to 
announce  the  .consequences  of  order,  and  of  the  orders ;  or,  in 
short,  to  proclaim  a  superiority  that  belongs  only  to  the  Head 
of  all  the  churches,  let  them  be  farther  from,  or  nearer  to,  what 


498  THE    WAYS    OF   THE    HOUR. 

are  considered  distinctive  principles.  What  the  church  is  now 
enduring  the  country  itself  most  sadly  wants,  —  a  lesson  in 
humility ;  a  distrust  of  self,  a  greater  dependence  on  that  wisdom 
which  comes,  not  from  the  voices  of  the  people,  not  from  the 
ballot-boxes,  not  from  the  halls  of  senates,  from  heroes,  god- 
likes,  or  stereotyped  opinions,  but  from  above,  the  throne  of  the 
Most  High. 

In  one  of  those  little  temples  reared  by  our  fathers  in  the 
days  of  the  monarchy,  when,  in  truth,  greater  republican  sim 
plicity  really  reigned  among  us,  in  a  thousand  things,  than  reigns 
to-day,  the  bridal  party  from  Timbully  was  assembled  at  an  early 
hour  of  the  morning.  The  company  was  not  large,  though  it 
necessarily  included  most  of  the  nearest  relatives  of  the  bride  and 
groom.  Dunscomb  was  there,  as  were  Millington  and  his  wife ; 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  McBrain,  of  course,  and  two  or  three  other  rela 
tions  on  the  side  of  the  bride's  father,  besides  Mildred.  It  was 
to  be  a  private  wedding,  a  thing  that  is  fast  getting  to  be  for 
gotten.  Extravagance  and  parade  have  taken  such  deep  root 
among  us  that  young  people  scarce  consider  themselves  legally 
united  unless  there  are  six  bride's  maids,  one,  in  particular,  to 
"pull  off  the  glove;"  as  many  attendants  of  the  other  sex,  and 
some  three  or  four  hundred  friends  in  the  evening,  to  bow  and 
curtsy  before  the  young  couple,  utter  a  few  words  of  nonsense, 
and  go  their  way  to  bow  and  curtsy  somewhere  else. 

There  was  nothing  of  this  at  Timbully,  on  that  wedding-day. 
Dunscomb  and  his  nephew  drove  over  from  Rattletrap,  early  in 
the  morning,  even  while  the  dew  was  glittering  on  the  meadows, 
and  Millington  and  his  wife  met  them  at  a  cross-road,  less  than 
a  mile  from  McBrain's  country-house.  The  place  of  rendezvous 
was  at  the  church  itself,  and  thither  the  several  vehicles  directed 
their  way.  Dunscomb  was  just  in  time  to  hand  Mildred  from 
her  very  complete  travelling-carriage,  of  which  the  horses  were 
in  a  foam,  having  been  driven  hard  all  the  way  from  town 


THE  WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  495 

Last  of  all,  appeared  Stephen  Hoof,  driving  the  very  respectable- 
looking  Rockaway  of  Mrs.  McBrain — we  were  on  the  point  of 
writing  his  "  master,"  but  there  are  no  longer  any  '  masters '  in 
New  York.  Stephen,  himself,  who  had  not  a  spark  of  pride, 
except  in  his  horses,  and  who  was  really  much  attached  to  the 
person  he  served,  always  spoke  of  the  doctor  as  his  "boss." 
Jack  Wilmeter,  somewhat  of  a  wag,  had  perplexed  the  honest 
coachman,  on  a  certain  occasion,  by  telling  him  that  "boss"  was 
the  Latin  for  "ox,"  and  that  it  was  beneath  his  dignity  to  be 
using  Pill  and  Pole-us  (Bolus)  to  drag  about  "oxen."  But 
Stephen  recovered  from  this  shock  in  due  time,  and  has  gone  on 
ever  since,  calling  his  master  "  boss."  We  suppose  this  touch 
of  "republican  simplicity"  will  maintain  its  ground  along 
with  the  other  sacred  principles  that  certain  persons  hold  on  to 
so  tightly  that  they  suffer  others,  of  real  importance,  to  slip 
through  their  fingers. 

Stephen  was  proud  of  his  office  that  day.  He  liked  his  new 
mistress — there  are  no  bossesses — and  he  particularly  liked  Miss 
Anna.  His  horses  were  used  a  good  deal  more  than  formerly, 
it  is  true  j  but  this  he  rather  liked  too,  having  lived  under  the 
regimes  of  the  two  first  Mrs.  McBrain.  He  was  doubly  satisfied 
because  his  team  came  in  fresh,  without  having  a  hair  turned, 
while  that  of  Madam,  as  all  the  domestics  now  called  Mildred, 
were  white  with  foam.  Stephen  took  no  account  of  the  differ 
ence  in  the  distance,  as  he  conceived  that  a  careful  coachman 
would  have  had  his  "  boss"  up  early  enough  to  get  over  the 
ground  in  due  season,  without  all  this  haste.  Little  did  he  un 
derstand  the  bossess  that  his  brother-whip  had  to  humour.  She 
paid  high,  and  had  things  her  own  way. 

Anna  thought  Stephen  had  never  driven  so  fast  as  he  did 
that  morning.  The  doctor  handed  her  from  the  carriage,  lead 
ing  her  and  his  wife  directly  up  to  the  altar.  Here  the  party 
was  met  by  John  and  his  uncle,  the  latter  of  whom  facetiously 


500  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

styled  himself  the  et  groomsman."  It  is  a  ceremony  much  more 
easily  done  than  undone — great  as  the  facilities  for  the  last  are 
getting  to  be.  In  about  five  minutes,  John  Wilmeter  and  Anna 
Updyke  were  pronounced  to  be  "  one  flesh."  In  five  minutes 
more,  Jack  had  his  sweet,  smiling,  happy,  tearful  bride,  in  his 
own  light  vehicle,  and  was  trotting  away  towards  a  pretty  little 
place  in  Westchester,  that  he  owns,  and  which  was  all  ready  to 
receive  the  young  couple.  The  ponies  seemed  to  understand 
their  duty,  and  soon  carried  the  bride  and  bridegroom  out  of 
sight. 

"Them's  awful  trotters,  them  nags  of  Mr.  Jack  Wilmington's/' 
said  Stephen,  as  the  double  phaeton  whirled  away  from  the  church 
door,  "and  if  Miss  Anny  doesn't  disapprove  on  'em,  afore  long, 
I'm  no  judge  of  a  team.  I'm  glad,  however,  the  young  gen 
tleman  has  married  into  our  family,  for  he  does  like  a  hoss,  and 
the  gentleman  that  likes  a  hoss  commonly  likes  his  vife." 

His  remark  was  overheard  by  Dunscomb,  though  intended 
only  for  the  ears  of  the  counsellor's  coachman.  It  drew  an  an 
swer,  as  might  have  been  foreseen. 

"1  am  glad  you  approve  of  the  connexion,  Stephen,"  said  the 
counsellor  in  his  good-natured  way.  "  It  is  a  great  satisfaction 
to  know  that  my  nephew  goes  among  friends." 

"  Fri'nds,  Sir  !  Admirers  is  a  better  tarm.  I'm  a  downright 
admirer  of  Mr.  Jack,  he  's  sich  tastes ;  always  with  his  dog,  or 
his  gun,  or  his  hoss,  in  the  country ;  and  I  dares  to  say,  with 
his  books  in  town." 

"Not  just  all  that,  Stephen;  I  wish  it  were  so;  but  truth 
compels  me  to  own  that  the  young  rogue  thinks  quite  as  much 
of  balls,  and  suppers,  and  tailors,  and  the  opera,  as  he  does  of 
Coke  upon  Lyttleton,  or  Blackstone  and  Kent." 

"Yell,  that's  wrong,"  answered  Stephen,  "and  I'll  uphold 
no  man  in  vot's  wrong,  so  long  as  I  can  do  better.  I  know'd 
both  them  racers,  having  heard  tell  on  'em  at  the  time  they  vos 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  501 

run,  and  I've  heard  good  judges  say,  that  timed  the  hosses,  that 
Kent  come  in  neck  and  neck,  if  justice  had  been  done.  Mr. 
Jack  will  rectify,  and  come  to  see  the  truth  afore  long — matter- 
mony  will  do  that  much  for  him.  It's  a  great  help  to  the  seek 
ers  arter  truth,  is  mattermony,  sir  !" 

"  That  is  the  reason  you  have  so  much  of  it  at  Timbully,  I 
suppose/'  returned  Dunscoinb,  nodding  familiarly  towards  his 
friend  the  Doctor,  who  had  heard  all  that  was  said.  "  If  matri 
mony  rectifies  in  this  way,  you  must  be  three  times  right  at 
home,  Stephen." 

"Yes,  sir,"  answered  the  coachman,  nodding  his  head  in 
reply ;  "  and  when  a  body  does  better  and  better,  as  often  as  he 
tries,  there's  no  great  harm  in  trying.  Mr.  Jack  vill  come 
round,  in  time." 

"  I  dare  say  he  will,  Stephen,  when  he  has  sown  all  his  wild 
oats ;  though  the  dog  pretends  to  like  the  Code,  and  what  is 
more,  has  the  impudence  to  say  he  understands  it." 

"  Yes,  sir,  all  wrong,  I  dares  to  say.  But  Miss  Anna  will  set 
him  right,  as  a  righter  young  lady  never  sat  on  the  back  seat  of 
a  coach.  I  wish,  now  we're  on  the  subject,  'Squire  Dunscomb, 
to  hear  your  ra'al  opinion  about  them  vild  oats ;  vether  they  be 
a  true  thing,  or  merely  a  fancy  consarning  some  vegetable  that 
looks  like  the  true  feed.  I  've  often  heard  of  sich  things,  but 
never  seed  any." 

"  Nor  will  you,  Stephen,  until  the  doctor  turns  short  round, 
and  renews  his  youth.  Then,  indeed,  you  may  see  some  of  the 
grain  growing  beneath  your  feet.  It  is  doctor's  food. 

"  Meshy,  and  good  for  the  grinders  of  old  hosses,  I  dares  to 
say." 

"  Something  of  the  sort.  It's  the  harvest  that  age  reaps  from 
the  broad-cast  of  youth.  But  we  are  keeping  Mrs.  McBrain 
waiting.  Stephen  will  take  one  less  back  with  him,  than  he 
brought,  my  dear  lady." 


502  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  I  trust  not.  Mr.  McBrain  has  given  me  reason  to  hope  for 
the  pleasure  of  your  company.  Your  nephew  has  carried  off 
my  daughter;  the  least  you  can  do  is  to  come  and  console 
me." 

"  What  is  then  to  become  of  that  dear,  but  unfortunate  young 
lady  ?"  glancing  towards  Mildred. 

"  She  goes  with  her  relatives,  the  Millingtons.  Next  week, 
we  are  all  to  meet  at  Rattletrap,  you  know.7' 

The  next  week  the  meeting  took  place,  as  appointed. 
"  Here  I  am,"  cried  Dunscomb,  "  truly  and  finally  a  bachelor, 
again.  Now  for  the  reign  of  misrule,  negligence,  and  bad  house 
keeping.  Sarah  has  left  me ;  and  John  has  left  me ;  and  Rat 
tletrap  will  soon  become  the  chosen  seat  of  discomfort  and 
cynicism." 

"  Never  the  last,  I  should  think,"  answered  Madame  de  La- 
rocheforte,  gaily,  "  as  long  as  you  are  its  master.  But  why 
should  you  dwell  alone  here,  in  your  declining  years — why  may 
I  not  come  and  be  your  housekeeper." 

"  The  offer  is  tempting,  coming,  as  it  does,  from  one  who  can 
not  keep  house  for  herself.  But  you  think  of  returning  to 
Europe,  I  believe?" 

"  Never — or  not  so  long  as  my  own  country  is  so  indulgent  to 
us  women !" 

"  Why,  yes — you  are  right  enough  in  that,  Mildred.  This  is 
woman's  paradise,  in  a  certain  sense,  truly;  though  much  less 
attention  is  paid  to  their  weakness  and  wants,  by  the  affluent, 
than  in  other  lands.  In  every  Christian  country  but  this,  I  be 
lieve,  a  wife  may  be  compelled  to  do  her  duty.  Here  she  is  free 
as  the  air  she  breathes,  so  long  as  she  has  a  care  not  to  offend  in 
one  essential.  No,  you  are  right  to  remain  at  home,  in  your 
circumstances ;  that  is  to  say,  if  you  still  insist  on  your  mistaken 
independence ;  a  condition  in  which  nature  never  intended  your 
sex  to  exist." 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE   HOUR.  503 

"And  yourself,  sir !  Did  not  nature  as  much  intend  that  you 
should  marry,  as  another  ?" 

"  It  did,"  answered  Dunscomb,  solemnly ;  "  and  I  would  have 
discharged  the  obligation,  had  it  been  in  my  power.  You  well 
know  why  I  have  never  been  a  husband — the  happy  parent  of  a 
happy  family." 

Mildred's  eyes  swam  with  tears.  She  had  heard  the  history 
of  her  grandmother's  caprice,  and  had  justly  appreciated  the 
wrongs  of  Dunscomb.  This  it  was  not  difficult  for  her  to  do,  in 
the  case  of  third  parties,  even  while  so  obtuse  on  the  subject  of 
her  own  duties.  She  took  the  hand  of  her  companion,  by  a 
stealthy  and  unexpected  movement,  and  raised  it  still  more  un 
expectedly  to  her  lips.  Dunscomb  started;  turned  his  quick 
glance  on  her  face,  where  he  read  all  her  contrition  and  regrets. 
It  was  by  these  sudden  exhibitions  of  right  feeling,  and  correct 
judgment,  that  Madame  de  Larocheforte  was  able  to  maintain 
her  position.  The  proofs  of  insanity  were  so  limited  in  the 
range  of  its  influence,  occurred  so  rarely,  now  she  was  surrounded 
by  those  who  really  took  an  interest  in  her,  and  this  not  for  the 
sake  of  her  money,  but  for  her  own  sake,  that  her  feelings  had 
become  softened,  and  she  no  longer  regarded  men  and  women  as 
beings  placed  near  her,  to  prey  on  her  means  and  to  persecute 
her.  By  thus  giving  her  affections  scope,  her  mind  was  gradu 
ally  getting  to  be  easier,  and  her  physical  existence  improved. 
McBrain  was  of  opinion  that,  with  care,  and  with  due  attention 
to  avoid  excitement  and  distasteful  subjects,  her  reason  might 
again  be  seated  on  its  throne,  and  bring  all  the  faculties  of  her 
mind  in  subjection  to  it. 

At  length  the  time  for  the  visit  of  the  young  people  arrived. 
Anxious  to  see  happy  faces  assembled  around  him,  Dunscomb 
had  got  Mildred,  the  McBrains,  and  the  Millingtons,  at  Rattle 
trap,  to  do  honour  to  the  bride  and  groom.  Good  Mrs.  Gott  had 
not  been  overlooked,  and  by  an  accident,  Timms  drove  in  at  the 


604  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

gate,  just  as  the  whole  party,  including  Jack  and  his  blooming 
wife,  were  sitting  down  to  a  late  breakfast.  The  counsellor  wel 
comed  his  man  of  all  work,  for  haoit  renders  us  less  fastidious 
in  our  associations  than  most  of  us  imagine. 

Timms  was  very  complimentary  to  both  of  the  young  couples, 
and  in  a  slight  degree  witty,  agreeably  to  his  own  mode  of  re 
garding  the  offspring  of  that  effort  of  the  imagination. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  Williams' s  getting  married,  ' Squire 
Dunscomb  ?"  the  attorney  asked.  "  There 's  a  man  for  matri 
mony  !  He  regards  women  and  niggers  as  inferior  beings." 

"  Pray  how  do  you  regard  them,  Timms  ?  The  women  only, 
I  suppose?" 

"  Oh !  dear,  no,  'Squire ;  as  far  as  possible  from  that !  I  reve 
rence  the  ladies,  without  whom  our  state  in  this  life  would  be  — " 

"  Single  —  I  suppose  you  wish  to  say.  Yes,  that  is  a  very 
sensible  remark  of  yours  —  without  women  we  should  certainly 
all  get  to  be  old  bachelors,  in  time.  But,  Timms,  it  is  proper 
that  I  should  be  frank  with  you.  Mildred  de  Larocheforte  may 
manage  to  get  a  divorce,  by  means  of  some  of  the  quirks  of  the 
law )  but  were  she  to  be  proclaimed  single,  by  sound  of  trumpet, 
she  would  never  marry  you." 

"  You  are  sharp  on  me  this  morning,  sir ;  no  one  but  the  lady, 
herself,  can  say  that." 

"  There  you  are  mistaken.  I  know  it,  and  am  ready  to  give 
my  reasons  for  what  I  say." 

"  I  should  be  pleased  to  hear  them,  sir  —  always  respect  your 
reasoning  powers,  though  I  think  no  man  can  say  who  a  lady 
will  or  will  not  marry." 

"  In  the  first  place,  she  does  not  like  you.  That  is  one  sum" 
cient  reason,  Timms — " 

"  Her  dislike  may  be  overcome,  sir." 

"  Her  tastes  are  very  refined.     She  dislikes  her  present 
hand  principally  because  he  takes  snuff" 


THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR.  505 

"  I  should  have  thought  she  might  have  discovered  her  feelings 
an  that  subject,  before  she  went  so  far." 

"  Not  as  they  manage  matters  in  Europe.  There,  the  suitor 
is  not  permitted  to  kiss  his  intended,  as  so  often  happens  among 
ourselves,  I  fancy ;  and  she  had  no  opportunity  of  ascertaining 
how  unpleasant  snuff  is.  You  chew  and  smoke,  and  she  will 
endure  neither." 

"I'll  forswear  both,  rather  than  not  be  agreeable  to  dear 
Mary  Monson." 

"  Ah !  my  poor  Timms,  I  see  you  are  deeper  in  this  affair  than 
I  had  supposed.  But  I  shall  turn  you  over  to  Mrs.  Gott,  who 
has  promised  to  have  an  explanation  with  you,  and  who,  I  be 
lieve,  will  speak  by  authority." 

Timms  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  see  his  old  master  very 
unceremoniously  leave  him,  and  the  sheriff's  wife  occupy  his  place. 

" ' Squire  Timms/'  the  latter  commenced,  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  "  we  live  in  a  very  strange  world,  it  must  be  admitted. 
Gott  says  as  much  as  this,  and  Gott  is  commonly  right.  He 
always  maintained  he  never  should  be  called  on  to  hang  Mary 
Monson." 

"  Mr.  Gott  is  a  very  prudent  man,  but  he  would  do  well  to 
take  more  care  of  his  keys." 

"  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  out  how  that  was  done !  Mary 
laughs  when  I  ask  her,  and  says  it  was  witchcraft;  I  sometimes 
think  it  must  have  been  something  of  the  sort." 

"It  was  money,  Mrs.  Gott,  which  kept  Goodwin  concealed 
to  the  last  moment,  and  brought  about  half  of  all  that  hap 
pened." 

"  You  knew  that  Peter  Goodwin  was  alive,  and  hid  up  at  Mrs. 
Horton's?" 

"  I  was  as  much  surprised,  when  he  entered  the  court,  as  any  one 
there.  My  client  managed  it  all  for  herself.  She,  and  her  gold." 

"  Well,  you  have  the  credit  of  it,  Timms,  let  me  tell  you,  and 
22 


506  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

many  in  the  county  think  it  was  very  well  done.  I  am  your 
friend,  and  ever  have  been.  You  stood  by  Gott  like  a  man,  at 
his  election,  and  I  honour  you  for  it.  So  I  am  about  to  give 
you  a  great  proof  of  my  friendship.  Give  up  all  thoughts  of 
Mary  Monson ;  she'll  never  have  you." 

"  What  reasons  have  you  for  saying  this  ?" 

"In  the  first  place,  she  is  married  already." 

"She  may  get  a  divorce.  Besides,  her  present  husband  is 
not  a  citizen.  If  I  go  to  the  senate,  I  intend  to  introduce  a  bill 
to  prevent  any  but  citizens  getting  married.  If  foreigners  want 
wives,  let  them  be  naturalized !" 

"  You  talk  like  a  simpleton !  Another  reason  why  you  should 
not  think  of  Mary  Monson  is  that  you  are  unsuited  to  be  her 
husband?" 

"  In  what  particular,  I  beg  leave  to  ask  ?" 

"  Oh !  in  several.  You  are  both  too  sharp,  and  would  quarrel 
about  your  wit,  in  the  very  first  month,"  returned  Mrs.  Gott, 
laughing.  "Take  my  advice,  Timms,  and  cast  your  eyes  on 
gome  Duke's  county  young  woman,  who  has  a  natur'  more  like 
your  own." 

Timms  growled  out  a  dissent  to  this  very  rational  proposition, 
but  the  discussion  was  carried  on  for  some  time  longer.  The 
woman  made  an  impression  at  last,  and  when  the  attorney  left 
the  house,  it  was  with  greatly  lessened  hopes  for  the  future,  and 
with  greatly  lessened  zeal  on  the  subject  of  the  divorce. 

It  was  singular,  perhaps,  that  Mrs.  Gott  had  not  detected  the 
great  secret  of  Mary  Monson's  insanity.  So  many  persons  are 
going  up  and  down  the  country,  who  are  mad  on  particular  sub 
jects,  and  sane  on  most  others,  that  it  is  not  surprising  the  in 
telligence  and  blandishments  of  a  woman  like  Mildred  should 
throw  dust  into  the  eyes  of  one  as  simple-minded  as  Mrs.  Gott. 
With  the  world  at  large,  indeed,  the  equivoque  was  kept  up,  and 
while  many  thought  the  lady  very  queer,  only  a  few  suspected  the 
truth.  It  may  be  fortunate  for  most  of  us  that  writs  of  lunacy 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR.        603 

are  not  taken  out  against  us :  few  men,  or  women,  being  under 
the  control  of  a  good,  healthful  reason  at  all  times,  and  on  all 
subjects. 

In  one  particular,  Mad.  de  Larochefort  was  singularly  situated. 
She  was  surrounded,  in  her  ordinary  associations,  with  newly 
married  persons,  who  were  each  and  all  strenuously  resolved  to 
regard  the  relation  in  the  most  favourable  point  of  view !  Per 
haps  there  is  nothing  on  earth  that  so  nearly  resembles  the  pure 
happiness  of  the  blessed,  as  the  felicity  that  succeeds  the  entire 
union  of  two  hearts  that  are  wrapped  up  in  each  other.  Such 
persons  live  principally  for  themselves,  regarding  the  world  at 
large  as  little  more  than  their  abiding  place.  The  affinity  of 
feeling,  the  community  of  thought,  the  steadily  increasing  confi 
dence  which,  in  the  end,  almost  incorporates  the  moral  existence 
of  two  into  one,  are  so  many  new  and  precious  ties,  that  it  is  not 
wonderful  the  novices  believe  they  are  transplanted  to  a  new  and 
ethereal  state  of  being.  Such  was,  in  a  measure,  the  condition 
of  those  with  whom  Mildred  was  now  called  on  to  associate  most 
intimately.  It  is  true,  that  the  state  of  the  doctor  and  his  wife 
might  be  characterized  as  only  happy,  while  those  of  the  young 
people  amounted  to  absolute  felicity.  Mildred  had  experienced 
none  of  the  last,  and  very  little  of  the  first,  on  the  occasion  of  her 
own  marriage,  which  had  been  entered  into  more  as  a  contract 
of  reason,  than  a  union  of  love.  She  saw  how  much  she  had 
missed,  and  profound  was  the  grief  it  occasioned  her. 

"  You  seem  very  happy,"  she  remarked  one  day  to  Anna,  as 
they  were  again  threading  the  pretty  little  wood  at  Rattletrap  — 
"  more  than  that — delighted  would  be  a  better  word." 

"  Jack  is  very  kind  to  me,  and  the  only  complaint  I  have  to 
make  of  him  is,  that  he  is  more  fond  of  me  than  I  deserve.  I 
tell  him  I  tremble  lest  our  happiness  may  not  last !" 

"  Enjoy  it  while  you  may.  It  is  so  rare  to  find  married  per 
sons  who  are  so  completely  devoted  to  each  other,  that  it  ia 
a  pleasant  sight  to  look  upon.  I  never  knew  any  of  this,  Anna." 


508  THE    WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

"  I  regret  to  hear  it,  dear  mamma — it  must  be  that  you  began 
Wrong.  There  should  be  a  strong  attachment  before  the  nuptial 
benediction  is  pronounced;  then;  with  good  hearts,  and  good 
principles,  I  should  think  almost  any  woman  might  be  content 
with  her  fate." 

"  It  may  be  so,"  returned  Mildred,  with  a  profound  sigh ;  "  I 
suppose  it  must  be  so.  We  are  created  by  God,  to  fulfil  these 
kind  offices  to  each  other,  and  to  love  our  husbands ;  and  there 
must  be  something  very  wrong  when  different  results  follow. 
For  myself,  I  ought  never  to  have  married  at  all.  My  spirit  is 
too  independent  for  matrimony." 

Anna  was  silent;  for,  possibly,  she  might  have  read  "head 
strong"  for  "independent."  The  most  truly  independent  think 
ers  are  those  who  are  willing  to  regard  all  sides  of  a  subject,  and 
are  not  particularly  wedded  to  one.  Mildred  was  acute  enough 
to  see  that  the  beautiful  young  bride  did  not  exactly  like  the 
allusion  she  had  made  to  her  new  character. 

"  You  do  not  agree  with  me  ?"  she  demanded  quickly,  bending 
forward  to  look  into  her  companion's  eyes. 

"  How  can  I,  mamma  Mildred  !  As  I  think  no  one,  man  or 
woman,  should  have  a  spirit  that  disqualifies  her  for  the  duties 
imposed  by  nature,  which  is  merely  the  law  of  our  great  Creator, 
how  can  I  agree  to  your  notion  of  so  much  independence.  We 
are  not  intended  for  all  this  independence,  but  have  been  placed 
here  to  do  honour  to  God,  and  to  try  to  render  each  other  happy 
I  wish — but  I  am  too  bold,  for  one  so  young  and  inexperienced." 

"  Speak  freely,  dear.  I  listen  with  pleasure  —  not  to  say  with 
curiosity." 

"  I  am  afraid,  dear  mamma,  that  the  great  guide  of  human 
conduct  is  not  as  much  studied  in  France,  as  it  should  be.  That 
teaches  us  the  great  lesson  of  humility.  Without  humility  we 
are  nothing  —  cannot  be  Christians  —  cannot  love  our  neighbours 
as  ourselves  —  cannot  even  love  God,  as  it  is  our  duty,  as  we 
ought  to  do." 


THE  WAYS  OF  THE  HOUR         509 

"  This  is  very  strange,  Anna,  coming  from  one  of  your  age  ! 
Is  it  common  for  American  girls  to  reason  and  feel  in  this  way  ?" 

f<  Perhaps  not,  though  I  hope  more  so  than  is  commonly  sup 
posed.  You  will  remember  what  a  mother  it  is  my  good  fortune 
to  possess.  But,  since  you  really  wish  me  to  be  frank  with  you, 
let  me  finish  what  I  have  to  say.  I  suppose  you  know,  Mildred, 
how  much  more  you  have  to  contend  with  than  most  of  your  sex  ?" 

"  Mons.  de  Larocheforte,  you  mean  ?" 

"Not  at  all,"  returned  Mrs.  John  Wilmeter,  slightly  smiling. 
"  I  put  all  thought  of  contention  with  a  husband  out  of  the  ques 
tion.  You  know  I  have  not  been  married  long  enough  for  that, 
and  I  could  almost  hope  that  the  first  day  of  such  a  scene  might 
be  the  last  of  my  life !  John  would  cease  to  love  me,  if  I  quar 
relled  with  him." 

"  You  will  be  an  extraordinary  pair,  my  dear,  if  scenes,  as  you 
call  them,  do  not  occasionally  occur  between  you/' 

"  I  do  not  expect  faultlessness  in  Jack ;  and,  as  for  myself,  I 
know  that  I  have  very  many  motes  to  get  rid  of,  and  which  I 
trust  may,  in  a  measure,  be  done.  But  let  us  return  to  the  case 
of  a  woman,  young,  well-educated,  handsome,  rich  to  superfluity, 
and  intellectual/' 

"  All  of  which  are  very  good  things,  my  child,"  observed  Mad. 
de  Larocheforte,  with  a  smile  so  covert  as  to  be  scarcely  seen, 
though  it  betrayed  to  her  companion  the  consciousness  of  her 
making  the  application  intended  —  "  what  next?" 

"  Wilful,  a  lover  of  power,  and  what  she  called  independent." 

"  Good  and  bad  together.  The  two  first,  very  bad,  I  acknow 
ledge;  the  last,  very  good." 

"  What  do  you  understand  by  independence  ?  If  it  mean  a 
certain  disposition  to  examine  and  decide  for  ourselves,  under  all 
the  obligations  of  duty,  then  it  is  a  good  thing,  a  very  good  thing, 
as  you  say  j  but  if  it  merely  mean  a  disposition  to  do  as  one 
pleases,  to  say  what  one  likes,  and  to  behave  as  one  may  at  the 
moment  fancy,  then  it  strikes  me  as  a  very  bad  thing.  This  in- 


510  THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR. 

4> 

dependence,  half  the  time,  is  only  pride  and  obstinacy,  dear 
mamma  \" 

"  Well,  what  if  it  is  ?  Men  are  proud  and  obstinate,  too ;  and 
they  must  be-  fought  with  their  own  weapons." 

"  It  is  easy  to  make  smart  speeches,  but,  by  the  difficulties  I 
meet  with  in  endeavouring  to  conquer  nay  own  heart,  I  know  it 
is  very  hard  to  do  right.  I  know  I  am  a  very  young  monitress — " 

"  Never  mind  that,  Your  youth  gives  piquancy  to  your  in 
structions-.  I  like  to  hear  you." 

"  Well,  I  will  finish  what  I  had  to  say.  I  have  ever  found 
that  the  best  assistant,  or  it  might  be  more  reverent  to  say,  the 
best  mode  of  subduing  error,  was  to  comport  ourselves  with 
humility.  Ah  !  my  dear  mamma,  if  you  could  understand  how 
very  strong  the  humble  get  to  be  in  time,  you  would  throw  aside 
your  cherished  independence,  and  rely  on  other  means  to  secure 
your  happiness !" 

Perhaps  Mildred  was  as  much  struck  with  the  circumstances 
under  which  this  rebuke  or  admonition  was  given  as  with  the 
advice  itself.  It  had  an  effect,  however,  and  Dunscomb  coming 
in  aid  of  his  niece,  this  singular  woman  was  gradually  drawn 
from  the  exaggerated  notions  she  had  ever  entertained  of  herself 
and  her  rights  to  the  contemplation  of  her  duties,  as  they  are 
exercised  in  humility. 

If  there  were  no  other  evidence  of  the  divine  origin  of  the 
rules  of  conduct  taught  by  the  Redeemer  than  the  profound 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  that  is  so  closely  connected 
with  the  great  lessons  in  humility  everywhere  given  in  his 
teachings,  we  conceive  it  would  be  sufficient  in  itself  to  establish 
their  claim  to  our  reverence.  If  men  could  be  made  to  feel  how 
strong  they  become  in  admitting  their  weaknesses ;  how  clearly 
they  perceive  truth,  when  conscious  of  gazing  at  its  form  amidst 
the  fogs  of  error ;  and  how  wise  we  may  become  by  the  con 
sciousness  of  ignorance,  more  than  half  of  the  great  battle  in 
morals  would  be  gained 


THE    WAYS    OF    THE    HOUR.  511 

Humility  was,  indeed,  a  hard  lesson  for  Mildred  Millington 
to  study.  Her  whole  life  had  been  in  direct  opposition  to  its 
precepts,  and  the  great  failing  of  her  mind  .had  a  strong  leaning 
to  a  love  of  power.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a  still,  searching  pro 
cess  of  correcting,  so  interwoven  with  the  law  of  the  New 
Testament,  as  to  be  irresistible  when  brought  to  aid  us,  in  the 
manner  prescribed  by  its  own  theory.  No  one  knew  this  better 
than  Dunscomb ;  and  he  so  directed  the  reading,  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  his  interesting  charge,  as  to  produce  an  early  and  a 
very  sensible  change  on  her  character.  The  tendency  to  insanity 
is  still  there,  and  probably  will  ever  remain;  for  it  is  not  so 
much  the  consequence  of  any  physical  derangement  as  of  organ 
ization;  but  it  already  promises  to  be  so  far  controlled,  as  to 
leave  its  unhappy  subject,  generally  rational,  and,  for  most  of 
her  time,  reasonably  satisfied. 

Dunscomb  had  several  interviews  with  the  vicomte  —  no-vi- 
comte  —  whom  he  found  a  much  more  agreeable  person  than  he 
had  been  prepared  to  meet,  though  certainly  addicted  to  snuff. 
He  was  made  acquainted  with  the  mental  hallucinations  of  bis 
wife  as  well  as  with  the  fact  of  their  being  hereditary,  when  a 
great  change  came  over  the  spirit  of  his  dream !  He  had 
married  to  perpetuate  the  family  de  Larocheforte,  but  he  had  no 
fancy  for  a  race  of  madmen.  Dunscomb  found  him  very  reason 
able,  in  consequence,  and  an  arrangement  was  soon  made,  under 
the  advice  of  this  able  counsellor,  by  means  of  which  Mildred 
virtually  became  her  own  mistress.  M.  de  Larocheforte  accepted 
an  ample  provision  from  the  estate,  and  willingly  returned  to 
Europe,  a  part  of  the  world  that  is  much  more  agreeable, 
usually,  to  men  of  his  class  than  our  own  "happy  country/' 
His  absence  has  proved  a  great  assistance  to  those  who  have 
assumed  the  care  of  Mildred's  mental  state.  As  all  the  schemes 
for  a  divorce  have  been  discontinued, — schemes  that  could  have 
led  to  no  strictly  legal  consequence, — and  her  husband  has  left 
the  country,  the  mind  of  Mildred  has  become  calmer,  and  the 


512  THE   WAYS    OF   THE   HOUR. 

means  have  been  found  to  bring  her  almost  completely  within 
the  control  of  her  reason. 

We  have  very  little  to  say  of  the  other  characters.  Timms  is 
still  himself.  He  boasts  of  the  fees  he  got  in  the  great  Mary 
Monson  case.  His  prospects  for  the  state  senate  are  far  from 
bad,  and  should  he  succeed,  we  shall  expect  to  see  him  whining 
about  "  republican  simplicity,"  abusing  "aristocracy,"  which  in 
his  secret  heart,  means  a  clean  shirt,  clean  nails,  anti-tobacco 
chewing  and  anti-blowing-the-nose-with-the-fingers,  and  aiding 
anti-rentism.  He  is  scamp  enough  for  anything. 

Williams  is  actually  married,  and,  in  reply  to  Timms's  accounts 
of  the  fees,  he  intimates  that  Peter  Goodwin's  ghost  would  not 
have  appeared,  had  he  not  "  been  choked  off."  It  ought  to  be 
strange  that  these  two  men  like  to  boast  of  their  rascality  ;  but 
it  is  in  obedience  to  a  law  of  our  nature.  Their  tongues  merely 
echo  their  thoughts. 

The  McBrains  seem  very  happy.  If  the  wife  be  an  "  old  man  s 
darling,"  it  is  not  as  a  young  woman.  Dunscomb  still  calls  her 
u  widow,"  on  occasions,  but  nothing  can  interrupt  the  harmony 
of  the  friends.  It  is  founded  on  mutual  esteem  and  respect. 

Michael  and  Sarah  promise  well.  In  that  family,  there  is 
already  a  boy,  to  its  great-uncle's  delight.  The  parents  exult  in 
this  gift,  and  both  are  grateful. 

We  care  little  for  Jack  Wilmeter,  though  a  very  good  fel 
low,  in  the  main.  Anna  loves  him,  however,  and  that  gives 
him  an  interest  in  our  eyes,  he  might  not  otherwise  enjoy.  His 
charming  wife  is  losing  her  superfluous  enthusiasm  in  the  reali 
ties  of  life,  but  she  seems  to  gain  in  womanly  tenderness  and 
warmth  of  healthful  feeling,  precisely  in  the  degree  in  which  she 
loses  the  useless  tenant  of  her  imagination. 


THE    END- 


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OVERDUE. 





i 


LD  21-100m-12, '43  (8796s) 


48928 


955 


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ITo  V  9  1  3  * 

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or  ro 
Y.34 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


